Nashville, Tennessee Woman Arrested 12 Times for Shoplifting in Less Than 5 Months

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Shoplifting is the number one property crime in the United States, with more than $13 billion worth of goods stolen from retailers each year, according to pricegun.com.

The same group reports that there are more than half a million shoplifting incidents every day in this country.

Jessica Elizabeth Jordan may be one of the people the report is referring to. The 25-year-old is currently incarcerated in the Nashville Metropolitan Jail and faces at least 12 counts of shoplifting, all committed in less than five months.

The Nashville woman was arrested and released on bail, then rearrested multiple times, according to the Davidson County Criminal Court Clerk.

Jordan was charged with theft under $1,000 four times in December 2023. Court records show she was arrested on December 10, 14, 17 and 23.

Further arrests took place in January this year, when Jordan was jailed for theft on January 27 and 28.

She was arrested once in February, three times in March, once in April and again in May.

Twelve times in just over four months for crimes like the one listed in a Metro affidavit dated March 3, 2024. The report says Jordan entered an Old Navy store on Charlotte Pike where she allegedly filled bags with merchandise, then walked out of the store without paying.

The report says there is clear surveillance footage of the crime and she is known to store collateral from previous thefts.

Glen Alred, president of Alert Mid South, a retailer-law enforcement information-sharing group, said she “has a long criminal history of victimizing multiple retailers.”

Alred knows Jordan's story because retailers and law enforcement have discussed her case. “First, she takes orders on her Facebook page and she completes their orders by stealing the retailers' products and shipping them to the person who buys them.”

Alred showed News 2 photos from Jordan's social media accounts showing merchandise that Alred claims Jordan stole and then allegedly resold for pure profit.

“This is a lucrative business and they’re not going to stop,” Alred said. “They make more money stealing in a few hours a day than most of us make in a few weeks or months. This is organized crime. These people steal for a living and sell their money for profit.”

Alred said the biggest difference in organized retail robberies today is that suspects are willing to be violent with their associates to get out of stores.

According to the Davidson County Jail, Jordan is currently behind bars, on pretrial detention for crimes in another jurisdiction.

News 2 reached out to the Davidson County District Attorney's Office, which has a designated prosecutor who works with various malls and other retailers on these types of crimes. The prosecutor assigned to this case is fully aware of Jessica Jordan, and sent the following statement:

“While we cannot comment on ongoing cases, our office takes retail theft very seriously and pursues cases that threaten our public safety and the business community.”

Officials with the district attorney's office told News 2 that Jordan is scheduled to appear in court on a charge of theft under $1,000 on July 15. Court records show she also faces charges of burglary and failure to appear.