'Chicken scam' suspect accused of stealing thousands of dollars from stores

Two bench warrants have been issued in Pierce County for the arrest of Jasmine Willie aka the "Chicken Scam" suspect. Please warn your employees and coworkers about her.

Prosecutors in Pierce County have charged her with two counts of Extortion in the 2nd Degree as well as Theft in the 2nd Degree. She has also been charged with Organized Retail Theft in the 1st Degree.

According to court documents, the cases involve the same scam where the defendant comes into a business and claims she spoke to the manager about a refund and demands the clerk give her money. The defendant claims the refund is either because she was discriminated against and treated poorly because of her race or because she made a large purchase of chicken or food for her church and the food was bad. She often knows the manager's name and pretends to be on the phone with the manager. Police say she has successfully stolen thousands of dollars by extorting businesses and convincing clerks that she is supposed to be paid.

In one case, police say she told the clerk that she has been subjected to racist treatment at the business and would post a video on Facebook if she was not given cash. The suspect claimed she worked for BBC non-profit. The suspect pretended to be on the phone with the manager and claimed the manager approved the refund.

In another case, police say she stole more than $7,000 from a store after demanding a refund for bad meat she claimed she purchased it for a charity she was working for.

She is 31 years old, 5'5", 250 pounds. Call 911 if you see her.

PREVIOUS STORY from March 9, 2021: 

Normandy Park Police say Washington’s Most Wanted viewer tips to Crime Stoppers of Puget Sound led to  the arrest of Jasmine Willie in Tacoma.  

She was taken into custody at the Silver Cloud Inn on Ruston Way and booked into the King County jail early Tuesday morning.   

"After the story aired on Friday and Saturday we got a lot of great tips, we also got some new victims who recognized her from having been in their stores and we were able to get a location for where Ms. Willie was located," said Normandy Park Police Chief Dan Yourkoski.

Willie he is being held without bail for Organized Retail Theft.

"Without the viewers of Washington's Most Wanted, people like this would not be in custody and without the help of Washington's Most Wanted, she'd still be out free doing what she does best," said Chief Yourkoski.

Willie is WMW Capture #1201.

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PREVIOUS STORY from March 5, 2021c:
FUGITIVE WANTED IN NORMANDY PARK -- 
If Jasmine Willie comes into your store saying she bought chicken for a church event and it went bad and she wants her money back – do not believe her – and call 911.

Willie’s an accused prolific scam artist with seven warrants out for her arrest.

According to Pierce County court documents, she has defrauded stores in King, Pierce and Thurston County for around $100,000 and detectives say she's using kids and religion as part of her ploy.

In Normandy Park , the police chief says Willie pulled the ‘bad chicken’ scam on a QFC. "She's going into stores and claiming that she's been wronged somehow, either her church group bought food and the food ended up making people sick, or she'll claim that she came in and bought a cake for her kid’s birthday and they misspelled the name. A lot of times she has her kids with her, or has kids with her while she's committing these frauds and she convinces employees to give her refunds that she's not entitled to. From a grocery store in the Normandy Park area, she got over $3,000, so she's very good at what she does. She frequently will stay on the phone the entire time and she pretends like she's talking to the store manager and she's very convincing," said Normandy Park Police Chief Dan Yourkoski.

At a 7-Eleven in Lakewood last year, detectives said her chicken scam failed, so then, police say Willie went right on to claim she bought 13 muffins that were bad, but the store never has that many muffins to sell at one time, so they refused to give her any money and she left.

Detectives say she’s pulled her scam as recently as last week at a sandwich shop in Lacey.

She’s also wanted for theft in Pierce County where detectives say she stole more than $3,000 worth of merchandise from a Walmart in Puyallup.

"She's extremely difficult to find. We believe she's living in motels in the Tacoma area. On the video you'll see her car that she normally drives, It's a 2004 Lincoln Town Car, it's gray in color, she drives it pretty frequently. She's been very busy. It's not just an issue here in Normandy Park, it's throughout the Puget Sound region," said Chief Yourkoski.

Detectives say the license plate number on her Town Car is BRV7828.

Jasmine Willie is 29 years old.

If you see her in your store, or spot her in her car, call 911 and then contact Crime Stoppers to submit the information and get the cash reward of up to $1,000 for helping get her caught. You can use the P3 Tips app on your smart phone that you can download for free and can upload photos through, or you can call the hot line at 1-800-222-TIPS(8477). It is anonymous.