Salon Owners On Alert After Thefts At Multiple Tulsa Salons

Salon owners are on alert after they said a serial thief stole from at least four Tulsa salons putting them out thousands of dollars. Now, many hope surveillance video leads to an arrest. 

"We're barely making it, so when something like this hits us, a struggling business, a small business, it was personal to us,” said Stacy Carpio, manager of Phenix Salon Suites and salon owner. “Through this pandemic we were hit really hard cause we are very personal with people, the six feet apart thing doesn't, you can't do it when you do hair." 

Carpio said a thief stole more than $300 in hair color, which when combined with labor, adds up to more than $1,000 worth of services. Carpio manages the Phenix Salon Suites near 41st and Yale and is one of about 30 designers working there. She was shocked Monday evening when she pulled up the surveillance video.

 The video shows what appears to be a woman with blonde hair parking in a handicap spot before walking inside. You can see the person searching the building and peering behind the podium, before snagging a package that had been delivered, and taking off. 

"’Did I just see that, really?’ So, I clicked back a rewound it and watched it again," Carpio said. 

The stylist whose products were stolen must wait for new out of state shipments. Carpio told News On 6 they filed a police report and are waiting on investigators. 

"I felt pretty violated and it wasn't even something that was personally done to me, but I take pride in this business,” Carpio said. 

Carpio said that three other salons in the area reached out after seeing her Facebook post with a similar story and description of the suspect.  

Lacey Elleman with Status Salon near 31st and Harvard said a woman came in Wednesday night and stole hair products, restroom supplies, and their register tablet.  

“It happened on Wednesday (St. Patrick’s Day) at about 7pm. The woman came in acting like she wanted to make an appointment. She then asked if she could use the restroom. Unbeknownst to us at the time she stole nearly everything out of our bathroom including toilet paper, room spray, pain reliever, even the bathroom sign. She proceeded to act like she was interested in purchasing product, putting a product in her bag while the stylist wasn’t looking. She then came up to the counter acting like she was going to make a purchase and grabbed our register tablet and ran out the door. Our stylist ran after her and told her to give it back and she yelled no and sped away in her vehicle. It’s so frustrating because every single item in our salon is something we worked for. We are all independent stylists and work hard for everything we have. She is stealing from an industry that has already struggled over the past year due to the pandemic and to do so brazenly is what’s so shocking. At the end of the day though, I’m just thankful my stylists are safe. Items can be replaced. Also, I hope she is found quickly and we fully intend to press charges,” Lacey Elleman said.  

Carpio said these independent business owners do not always know who comes and goes from the front door. 

"Everybody’s in their own room doing their own business so we don't necessarily always know who goes in and out of the front door, but now we do and we're paying attention to it more,” Carpio said.  

Carpio said to prevent another package theft, she has changed the drop off location for shipments to a more secure location.