Two Philadelphia men are in county jail after they allegedly stole more than $700 worth of perfume from the Ulta Beauty store in Montgomeryville last week.
Police were dispatched to the scene at 8:22 p.m. on June 2 for a report of a theft in progress. Dispatch notified police that two male suspects — later identified as 33-year-old Andre Rogers and 39-year-old Michael Carroll — were exiting the store and walking towards a silver sedan in the parking lot.
Arriving police found Carroll sitting in the sedan while Rogers, seeing police in the area, began dumping beauty products onto the ground in an effort to abandon them, police said. Both men were subsequently detained.
Store employees told police the two men had entered the store and Carroll attempted to distract the employees while Rogers placed nearly two dozen bottles of perfume into shopping bags he was carrying, according to charging documents. The employees attempted to confront Rogers, however Carroll continued to attempt to distract them, at which point the employees dialed 9-1-1 and the two suspects exited the store, police said.
In total, 23 bottles of perfume were stolen, valued at $718, according to the complaint. A magnet commonly used to defeat security tags for merchandise was later found in Carroll’s possession after he was taken into custody, police said.
Both men were charged with multiple felony counts of retail theft, receiving stolen property, and related conspiracy offenses. Carroll was additionally charged with a misdemeanor count of possessing an instrument of crime for the magnet, police said.
Carroll and Rogers were arraigned the following morning by District Judge Francis Lawrence Jr., who set bail at $20,000 for each of the suspects. Both men were then remanded to county jail after failing to post, and their next court appearance is a preliminary hearing on June 28 at 9:45 a.m. in front of District Judge Andrea Duffy.
Court records show Carroll has three prior convictions for retail theft, and Rogers has 12 prior convictions for retail theft.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using court records and the affidavit of probable cause.
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