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A Florida-based TikTok influencer was arrested after showing off goods she allegedly shoplifted from her local Target in a video posted to her over 300K followers.
Marlena Velez, 22, is facing petty theft charges for allegedly stealing more than $500 from the Target store in Cape Coral on Oct. 30, according to the Fort Myers News-Press.
The retail chain’s loss prevention team told the Cape Coral police that a shoplifter was allegedly caught on security camera at a self-checkout register, where they scanned a fake barcode that listed lower prices for the items in their cart.
Police said the suspect stole 16 items, including household goods and clothes, valued at $500.32.
Officers reviewed and verified Target’s security footage and then posted a picture of the suspect on the department’s social media account in hopes the public could identify her.
Velez, who posts videos about her life as a mom to two kids on TikTok, was then identified as the shoplifter by an anonymous caller claiming to be one of her followers, police said.
The anonymous caller also provided officers with her Instagram handle, which had a link to Velez’s TikTok account.
Her TikTok page included a get-ready-with-me video from the day of the alleged shoplifting incident and showed her wearing the same outfit and glasses the suspect was wearing in the target security footage, according to Fox 4 Now.
The since-deleted TikTok video also showed her documenting herself picking out items inside the Target and placing them in her car afterward.
“She essentially incriminated herself,” Cape Coral Police Department spokesperson Officer Riley Carter told The Express Tribune.
“Social media gave us an unexpected lead, which expedited her identification and subsequent arrest.”
Velez was arrested on Thursday and charged with one count of petit theft of more than $100, less than $750.
The TikTokker’s crime also brought to light her prior criminal history.
In 2019, Velez was arrested when she was just 17 on grand theft auto charges for stealing her friend’s car and crashing it.
Velez’s former high school friend, Amanda Santana, told NBC 2 that when they were friends attending Ida Baker High School, Velez asked Santana to sit in her car during class until lunchtime. Santana, trusting her good friend, handed her the keys.
However, when Santana returned to the parking lot, she said her vehicle and Velez were nowhere to be found.
“I went to the parking lot, and I’m looking around for my car, and I can’t find it, so I actually, like double-checked, looked on every side, and I was like, where is my car?” Santana told the outlet Friday.
“We figured out that she went and crashed my car and totaled it into a ditch at a Dunkin’ on Cape Coral Parkway.”
Santana claims Velez never paid for any of the damages.
“It’s like she never felt remorse,” she told the outlet.
Velez was also arrested in July 2023 for shoplifting at a Walmart in Cape Coral.
A report from the store said she under-ringed items “by scanning one item, then placing another item underneath the scanned item,” according to NBC 2.
Velez stole $63 in kitchen items, pleaded no contest to the charges last April, and was sentenced to complete an anti-theft course and serve six months of probation — which ended last month.
“She’s been living recklessly, flaunting a lifestyle that doesn’t match her actions,” Santana said.
Following her most recent arrest, the Cape Coral Police Department said Velez’s social media following will not shield her from facing consequences for her actions if found guilty.
“Influencers should face the same consequences as anyone else,” Carter told The Express Tribune.
“Their public image doesn’t exempt them from the law.”
