“High Fashion Shoplifter” sentenced and ordered to pay $19,000 restitution

WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL) — A man with multiple thefts this year of expensive fashion purses and perfume was ordered to pay almost $19,000 restitution to two stores by the end of next year.

Deandre Mabonga, 21, will also serve jail time and be on probation for five years, on a suspended two-year sentence and pay a $1,000 fine.

His restitution breaks down to about $16,000 to Dillard’s and $2,800 to Ulta Beauty on Lawrence Road.

One of his sentences for 82 days in jail was for an evading charge when police said he ran into an apartment when they tried to serve warrants for some of the thefts in May, and they had to kick in the door.

Mabonga’s latest arrest was in September when police responded to another perfume theft at Ulta and stopped a Lexus SUV on Kell. They said Mabonga was in the back seat next to 21 boxes of perfume valued at $2,100.

An employee at Ulta said they recognized Mabonga as soon as he walked in because of his previous thefts and that he filled a basket with perfume and fled.

The driver of the car claimed Mabonga had asked for a ride to get a cell phone.

He was also charged with theft of more than $2,800 worth of perfume from Ulta on May 8.

Also in May, he was charged with the theft of three Louis Vuitton purses from Dillard’s valued at $5,460. Employees said he and an accomplice used tools to cut the purses from a security cable.

Police identified Mabonga from surveillance video.

The employee identified the suspects to police, saying she was familiar with them from previous times they shoplifted items.

One of those was for thefts of Louis Vuitton purses from Dillard’s in April. The store had just opened when a manager heard employees yelling and items falling in the accessories department.

They said two thieves ran out an exit with handbags valued at almost $12,000 that had been cut from the cable. Mabonga was again identified through surveillance video.

In another perfume bottle incident, police charged Mabonga with injury to a child in May of 2020, when they said he began throwing perfume bottles, and one hit a six-month-old infant in the head.

In 2020, he was charged with assault when police said he ripped hair and hair extensions out of a woman’s head, with skin and roots still attached to the real hair.

Since 2017, Mabonga has 12 arrests, including 11 theft charges.