MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A Shelby County Grand Jury will take up the cases against a Memphis woman who Memphis Police said was part of a group which committed seven carjackings over the course of nearly two weeks.
23-year-old Nautica Moore was originally charged with aggravated assault, six counts of felony carjacking, six counts of aggravated robbery, two charges of attempted murder, and various gun charges, totaling 25 felony charges. According to court records, 16 of those charges, including attempted first and second-degree murder, carjacking, and aggravated robbery were sent to the grand jury. The other charges were dismissed due to "no probable cause," according to the court record.
Memphis Police said Moore was arrested Dec. 5, 2023, after running from police in a stolen Ford Focus. Police said the car was taken from a man at gunpoint a day before.
The stolen car ran from police until it crashed at the Hillview Apartments near the Memphis International Airport. That's when police said they took Moore into custody, who MPD said later admitted to driving the stolen car and participating in seven total carjackings since Nov. 26.
The first happened on Nov. 26, according to an arrest report, when a man working as an Uber driver told police he picked up four people at the Hillview Apartments. When he drove them to their eventual destination, the man told police one of the men pulled a gun on him, pointing it at him and hitting him on the side of his face, then demanding to give him everything in his pockets. He told police he got out of the car and the suspects sped off in it.
Later that same day, the Dodge Journey stolen in the Uber incident was involved in another carjacking, the arrest report said. A man told police he was parking his car at a Parkway Village apartment complex when the Dodge parked nearby. Three men and a woman, who was later identified as Moore, got out and ran towards the man, hitting him in the head with a gun and taking his wallet and keys, later speeding off with his car.
Then, on Dec. 1, Moore admitted to police she was a part of another carjacking in Parkway Village. A man told police he was loading his pickup truck when he was hit in the back of the head with an unknown object. When he turned around, a man was pointing a gun at him as two others took his phone, wallet and keys, and got into his truck before taking off from the scene.
On Dec. 2, the arrest report stated two people told police they were sitting in their car in Memphis' Cherokee neighborhood, when two cars stopped nearby, a man getting out and approaching them. The two told police the man hit the driver's side window multiple times with a gun, before shooting at them, hitting the driver in the leg. The other person was then chased out of the car and hit over and over with the gun. The suspects ran away in the victims' car.
Later that same day, police responded to a shooting in Berclair, where a man said he was shot in the knee after trying to run from two men who tried to rob him. Moore admitted she was involved with this incident, the arrest report said.
Two days later, on Dec. 4, a man said he was sitting in his car on East Alcy Road when he was blocked in by another car. Three men got out of the car, pointed a gun at him, and told him to "get the **** out of the car." The man got out, and the three men sped off in his car.
Investigators said Moore admitted to the crimes when she was arrested the next day.
Moore has previous felony convictions on her record, MPD said.
Judge Bill Anderson sets $85,000 bond
She went before Judge Bill Anderson Jr. Dec. 7, who gave her $85,000 bond. This is compared to another mass car theft suspect, Justin Blue, who faced 26 lesser felony and misdemeanor charges, yet remains in jail on $300,000 bond from those charges.
Anderson made headlines just after the Thanksgiving holiday, releasing a first-degree murder suspect without bond. He later defended his action by saying he did it in order to supervise his release instead of the bond companies, who he said aren't up to the task.
If he sets a bond and a bail bond company pays it, they become responsible for monitoring that person.
“I can't control it because the bail bond company that got this person out, they don't have to listen to me. They're a private industry,” he said. “They do nothing but take money and get people out of jail. And if those people don't show up for court, generally, they don't go look for them.”
Tennessee state Senator Brent Taylor criticized Judge Anderson for his stance, claiming that his “contempt for the bail system” influences his decisions.
Judge Anderson said state lawmakers such as Taylor can remove bail bond companies from the process, which other states have done.