NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) — An online and Manhattan-based perfume and cosmetics store was indicted on Wednesday for allegedly stealing over $1 million in goods through an elaborate fencing operation, District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced.
Rehana’s Cosmtetics, Inc.—operated online and out of a brick-and-mortar near Macy’s in Herald Square—was charged with three counts of criminal possession of stolen property. The store’s owner, Bibi Rehana Khan, 54, of Mount Vernon is indicted on the same charges alongside her brother, Aaron Khan, 40, of the Bronx.
The defendants are accused of purchasing stolen goods and reselling them for profit through Rehana’s Cosmetics, Inc., or fencing.
“Fencing operations often use individual shoplifters to steal goods from your local Duane Reade, your bodega, your convenience store,” Bragg said.
The company was in possession of over $1 million in stolen property from shoplifters, including items that are not typically sold in cosmetics stores. Prosecutors said that the store was “a well-known destination to bring stolen goods.”
In January 2024, the district attorney’s office executed search warrants on the business and two of its storage units kept at 1234 Broadway. Investigators found cosmetics, beauty supplies, over-the-counter medications, designer handbags, clothing, toys, appliances, Lego sets, coffee machines and more.
“We found hundreds of boxes of stolen items of the types of products you would not find at a beauty store,” Bragg said.
Officials said that the stolen property filled 450 medium cardboard boxes, and that $212,000 worth of the stolen property came from Macy’s alone.
Other stolen items came from CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens and Ulta Beauty, which aided in the long-term investigation, as well as Duane Reade, Victoria’s Secret, Bath & Body Works and the NHL Store.
In addition to the economic impact of retail theft, Bragg raised concerns during a press conference on Wednesday regarding employee safety, stating that: “There have been far too many assaults on hard-working employees who are just trying to do their jobs.”
Proactive fencing investigations are a strategy that will continue to be used by the Manhattan Small Business Alliance, formed by the district attorney’s office in 2022, to combat shoplifting and commercial robberies.
“In addition to disrupting fencing networks, we will continue to target the small number of recidivists who are driving a significant amount of retail theft and ensure appropriate accountability,” Bragg said.