TACOMA — A 32-year-old woman dubbed the “Chicken Scam Lady,” accused of stealing thousands of dollars from businesses across King and Pierce counties, was taken into custody Tuesday.
Lakewood officers arrested Jasmine Willie in the 3600 block of Pine Street in Tacoma on four felony and 13 misdemeanor warrants. Three of those warrants were from the Lakewood Police Department, according to a news release.
Police learned that Willie would be in that area and conducted surveillance. She was seen at about 5 p.m. and arrested without incident, the release said.
Her husband, a 33-year-old man, was with Willie and was arrested on a warrant for third-degree assault of a child, records show. They were both booked into the Pierce County Jail.
Willie will appear for an arraignment at Pierce County Superior Court on Wednesday afternoon for two counts of second-degree theft, first-degree organized retail theft and two counts of second-degree extortion, court records show. The incidents Willie has been charged with took place between 2022 to 2023 in Pierce County.
Willie was nicknamed the “Chicken Scam Lady” after law enforcement said she told several restaurant employees that she needed a refund for chicken that had gone bad, according to a FOX 13 story.
The release said that Willie is known for demanding refunds from businesses for items that she never purchased. She also allegedly demanded refunds claiming that she was discriminated against for her race, according to charging documents.
Willie pleaded guilty in November 2022 in Pierce County to some felony cases involving the same alleged tactics. Documents show she was released from custody and placed on Department of Corrections supervision. A warrant was out for Willie’s arrest after she did not appear for the DOC.
The alleged scams included an incident in Lakewood on Aug. 14, 2023, when Willie went into a Daiso store and told the employee she had a video of the assistant manager being racist. She claimed she would post the video on Facebook if she did not get a refund, prosecutors wrote. She also claimed the manager told her over the phone she would get a refund.
Willie left the store with $554.92 and allegedly stole items that were worth $4.75, documents show.
A few days later on Aug. 17, 2023, Willie allegedly demanded a refund of $414 from a Dutch Bros in Lakewood. She said the refund was approved by the manager after someone made “racial comments” to her, prosecutors wrote. The employee gave her the refund in cash.
On Nov. 12, 2022, Willie went to a smoothie shop and was pretending to talk to the owner on the phone. She told the cashier that she made a purchase for her church group the previous week and staff was rude to her. Willie claimed the owner authorized a refund, but the cashier later learned that was not true, documents show. The cashier gave her a total refund of $210.81 before learning the accusation was untrue.
Willie’s most recent alleged thefts took place on Nov. 12 in Auburn where she stole over $800 from three different businesses, according to the Auburn Police Department.
