Detectives Take Action to Stop Three-Woman Shoplifting Crew

Detectives assigned to the MNPD's Organized Retail Crime Section are making headway as they look to stop a brazen shoplifting scheme by three Nashville women who are alleged to be responsible for stealing thousands of dollars in merchandise from retailers across the city.

On Monday, the execution of a search warrant at a 536 Shelby Avenue apartment revealed a cache of stolen merchandise, so much that the kitchen of the apartment resembled a small store. Approximately $8,000 worth of children's clothing and backpacks with the tags still attached were recovered, as were approximately $2,000 worth of stolen household and bathroom products. Retailers from which the items were stolen include Nike, Hibbett Sports, Dollar General, Family Dollar, Ross, Publix, Walgreens, and Bath & Body Works.

Convicted robber Asia Crawley, 31, the lessee on the apartment, remains jailed without bond as the result of her arrest Monday on 12 outstanding warrants, including two counts of organized retail crime, six counts of theft, and four probation violation counts. Her accomplice and apartment mate Chaisha Brown, 26, is jailed in lieu of $14,000 bond as the result of her arrest Monday on one count of organized retail crime and three counts of theft. The third woman, convicted thief Lamonica Ensley, 30, is at large and is wanted on 15 outstanding warrants charging one count of organized retail crime and 14 counts of theft. Ensley was convicted of felony theft in February of this year, was ordered to serve 77 days in jail, and then was released on probation. Anyone seeing Ensley or knowing her whereabouts is asked to contact Nashville Crime Stoppers at 615-742-7463.

Examples of the brazenness of the shoplifting activities are described in this narrative relating to the July 2 theft from a Nashville Bath & Body Works store:

Video shows Ms. Ensley, Ms. Crawley, and Ms. Brown all enter the location together. Ms. Ensley and Ms. Brown each select one hand basket to use within the store, and Ms. Crawley selects three hand baskets before the trio immediately move to the candle wall where the three-wick candles are kept. Video shows the three begin to fill the five baskets with as many candles as they can hold. When they have loaded the five baskets with ninety three-wick candles for a value of $2,425.50, they head back to the front of the store. On the way to the front of the store, Ms. Ensley and Ms. Crawley are seen making selections of sixty wall fragrance plug ins for a value of $477.00, which they conceal in their purses, as well as ten soaps for a value of $199.90, and six body lotions for a value of $95.70. Once they have concealed all of these items in their purses, the three continue walking to the front of the store where they bypass all points of sale and exited with $3,198.10 worth of unpaid merchandise. In addition to the merchandise, they also took the five hand baskets which are not merchandise held for sale and cost Bath & Body Works $20.00 per basket to replace, costing the company an additional $100.00 in losses.

And this narrative pertaining to the theft of merchandise from a Nashville Lowe's store:

On July 3, 2025 loss prevention personnel with Lowe's located at 10 E Campbell Road reported a shoplifting to police. Staff advised that three females entered the store together and walked to the tool aisle, where one suspect selected two pairs of bolt cutters while another suspect selected a Schlage Wifi Deadbolt. They went to Flooring, where they cut open the lock on the cage containing vacuums and selected five robot vacuums. The subjects were approached by an employee and they fled to the front of the store, passing all points of sale without rendering payment. From video, the case detective immediately recognized the suspects as Asia Crawley, Chaisha Brown, and Lamonica Ensley due to multiple other cases with these subjects. In total, the value of merchandise taken is $1,820. The detective located a social media post by Asia Crawley in which she posted a Black and Decker robot vacuum for sale for $80.

Organized Retail Crime detectives are working diligently to identify prolific shoplifters, realizing that instances of theft cause prices to rise for everyone else.