(Kenosha County Sheriff’s Office)
KENOSHA, Wis. — A 19-year-old Romanian woman, Mihaela Budeanca, was sentenced Friday to four years in the Wisconsin State Prison system for her role in a large-scale organized retail theft ring that targeted Ulta Beauty stores across multiple states.
(File Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
Budeanca, whose last listed address was in Spearfish, South Dakota, appeared in custody before Judge Jodi L. Meier and was assisted by Romanian interpreter Mihai Biedea. She pleaded guilty to one count of felony retail theft – intentionally taking merchandise valued between $5,000 and $10,000, as a party to a crime, for an incident at the Ulta store on 77th Street in Pleasant Prairie.
(Kenosha County Sheriff’s Office)
According to the criminal complaint, store employee Lindsey Rocco told Pleasant Prairie police that two women entered the store around 5:45 p.m. on March 15, 2024, concealed cosmetics in their skirts, and left without paying. Security footage showed the pair leaving in a white Toyota Sienna with Virginia plates. Police later identified the suspects as Budeanca and Alexandra M. Stefan, both linked to other thefts at Ulta locations in Mount Pleasant and Illinois.
At sentencing, District Attorney Xavier Solis said the Kenosha County case represented about $5,000 in losses, part of a broader theft ring responsible for more than $170,000 in stolen merchandise across several jurisdictions. Meier ordered $5,858 in restitution to Ulta Beauty and made the sentence consecutive to Budeanca’s existing 18-month Racine County sentence. She was denied sentence credit and will qualify for programming if eligible.
(File Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
Solis issued a statement after court:
“This office remains committed to protecting local businesses from organized theft and holding offenders fully accountable,” Solis said. “Kenosha County will continue to enforce the law and ensure that those who come here to steal face real consequences. Our message is simple: stay out of Kenosha County if your intent is to commit crimes.”
Court records show that Budeanca also faced a separate conviction earlier this year in Waukesha County, where Judge Paul Reilly sentenced her to 360 days in jail and $14,829 in restitution for a similar Ulta theft, jointly with a co-defendant.
Altogether, Budeanca now faces more than five years of incarceration between her Waukesha, Racine, and Kenosha County sentences.
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14 Responses
Has Tony Evers released her yet?
.. he hasn’t found out she’s in yet …. or he would have
How much will her incarceration cost Wisconsin taxpayers?
Who cares. She deserves it. The more these assholes get punished, the more the others may think twice. We need the punishments to be more harsh. Prisons are basically club fed now. Why do they get iPads? Why do they get snacks? Bullshit.
Well, it lookslike 360 days in jail and a 14,828 restitution didn’t make.a.difference to her.
These are the people Biden let in America
Who is letting them in now?
No one, border is closed
Send her home👍🏻
Chipper shredder, or at least zoo food.
If she is here on a Green card or student Visa, time to send her back to her home country, immediately. Enough of these people that think they can do these activities with no consequences. Screw jail, send her home if she is not a citizen. I don’t want to pay for her incarceration, however a one way plane ticket, yes. Never to be allowed back into the USA.
That fugly broad needs all the makeup she can get!
And how much did Steinbrink Jr steal from the tax payers of Pleasant Prairie? All the things he did and only reveived misdemeanor charges, 30,000 fine and 1 year in jail! Talk about a slap in the wrist! I’m glad she got a harsh sentence, but I think we just need to send her back to her country if.she.isnt a.citizen.
She needs more than Ulta