Accused serial shoplifter’s record has over 100 criminal charges
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – A suspected serial shoplifter is back behind bars, adding to the more than 100 criminal charges already in her criminal history.
Tawonda Parrish, 34, is accused of multiple thefts from The Mall at Green Hills this year alone. Court records, however, show Parrish’s criminal charges in Metro date back to shortly after she turned 18 in 2007. The repeat offenses after that go on and on, with some turning violent.
The details come as no surprise to retail crime experts.
“We are not surprised, because more times the reward is greater for them than the risk,” President of Alert Mid South Glenn Alred explained.
It’s a risk that Metro police said Parrish has repeatedly taken, despite landing behind bars numerous times.
“More times than not when someone is captured and we look at their history, they have multiple, multiple years of constant thefts,” said Alred.
Parrish’s first theft case was in 2013, with more than half a dozen theft charges to follow soon after. A pattern of theft charges continued in 2015 and 2016, with court documents showing four different incidents this year alone. Several of the theft cases turned violent, with Parrish also facing assault charges.
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“They don’t care. It’s easy work for them. It’s low risk, you know, chances of them getting caught is low, but the reward is high. It’s an easy income. They make more in a couple of hours work than most people do at a 40-hour job,” Alred said.
According to Alred, there needs to be stricter penalties, especially on repeat offenders.
“I’ve seen in the past where they’ve already had their bondsman set up ready to go, paid in full. Ready to go before they was captured. They may be stealing for months, but they know eventually they will get caught and about around how much their bond will be, so they will go ahead and prepay that,” said Alred.
Investigators connected Parrish to the latest thefts after they said she dropped her phone when running out of a store with purses in July.
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An arrest report said the phone revealed several indications that Parrish was involved in selling stolen property.
Parrish faces a list of charges, including organized retail crime and multiple counts of theft of merchandise.
She is being held in the Metro Jail on a $100,000 bond.
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