Shoplifters Pinch $37K in Merchandise from Ulta Beauty

07:06PM / Tuesday, March 28, 2023Print Story | Email Story

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Four people have been charged for lifting thousands of dollars in merchandise from the Ulta Beauty store in Berkshire Crossing.

Police were called to the store on Monday night by employees of the beauty products salon and arrested four people — two adults and two juveniles — who had more than $5,000 worth of products on them.

Raquan Cartre, 22, and Jonneasia Welcome, 19, both of Albany, N.Y., are now wanted after failing to appear in Cental Berkshire District Court on Tuesday

District Attorney Timothy Shugrue says more than $37,000 in total has been stolen in four separate incidents from Ulta Beauty just in the last month. Employees have reported that in these incidents the suspects have driven away in a car with New York plates.

Monday's incident began at 7 p.m. when the report came in of a shoplifting in progress. Lt. Matthew Hill said in his report that the store "had been the target of organized theft multiple times in recent weeks."

Ulta Beauty sells a range of perfumes and beauty products including from such brands as Clinique and Dior.

Employees gave a description of the car that had fled the scene and Sgt. Matthew Killeen stopped a vehicle matching the description on Dalton Avenue. Killeen said he saw reusable shopping bag full of perfumes and colognes in plain sight. Another officer, at Ulta, was viewing the surveillance footage and two individuals on the footage matched those in the car, according to police. Upon their arrest, 39 bottles of perfume and cologne, worth $5,145, were removed from the vehicle.

They were arrested and released on personal recognizance on Monday night. A warrant has been issued for their arrest after their failure to show up in court.

Welcome, Carter and both juveniles have been charged with organized retail crime and larceny over $1,200; Carter has also been charged with receiving stolen property over $1,200 and with possession of open marijuana in motor vehicle.

The case remains an ongoing investigation. Pittsfield Police Detective Anthony Dayton is investigating the case.

Tags: shoplifting, theft,

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EPA, GE Conducting Vernal Pool Study on Housatonic River

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
11:44AM / Tuesday, August 11, 2026

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A pilot study will determine the best way to remediate PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, from vernal pools in the Housatonic River.

Last month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and General Electric held an open house for the Vernal Pool Pilot Study on Reach 5A, a five-mile stretch between the river's confluence and Lenox border. Despite the rain, several people attended the event at the Berkshire Athenaeum.

EPA project manager Josh Fontaine explained that it is an evaluation of which remediation method to use for the remaining vernal pools in Reach 5A.

"We're going to be testing two different methods. One is an excavation method, which we already know has been very successful with another vernal pool cleaned up much earlier in the project," he said.

"And then the other is the application of two different carbon amendments. It would be the application of powdered activated carbon and the application of granulated activated carbon."

Ten vernal pools will be cleaned using these methods: five with excavation and five with active carbon; seven additional vernal pools will be monitored as controls. Construction will be complete around October, but the pools will be left to their natural processes and monitored with surveys and sampling for three years.

Fontaine said there is no frontrunner for methodology.

"We know the excavation method is effective, but we would like to see if the less invasive method of using the amendment will be as effective for potential use," he said.

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