Target Corp. signage outside the company’s store in Albany, California, US, on Monday, Nov. 18, 2024. Target Corp. is scheduled to release earnings figures on November 20. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images
A TikTok influencer who allegedly shoplifted about $500 worth of items from Target and posted her haul on the social media app, where she has more than 360,000 followers, has been arrested and charged with petty theft.
Police said Marlena Velez, 22, stole the items by scanning false bar codes with cheaper prices on Oct. 30 at a Target in Cape Coral, Florida.
The 16 items — household goods and clothing — were valued at $500.32, the Cape Coral Police Department said in a news release. Velez regularly posts content about her life as a mom of two on her TikTok account.
Police were called to the store last week for the theft that occurred on Oct. 30. The police department posted a photo of the suspect on its Facebook and Instagram accounts and asked the public’s help in identifying her. They received numerous phone calls from anonymous tipsters, one of whom was “personally known” to Velez and provided Velez’s name, date of birth and the names of her Instagram and TikTok accounts, according to a probable cause affidavit.
Those public social media pages helped police connect Velez to the theft, according to the affidavit.
Police said they found a video Velez posted on TikTok getting ready on the day of the theft, wearing the same outfit as the woman seen on Target’s security video — a tan shirt, tan pants and glasses. Velez recorded herself picking out the items inside the store and then taking them home with her, police said. According to the probable cause affidavit, the tipster also provided “unique details” about Velez, including that she had two children and a tattoo of a Zodiac sign on her left wrist, which police said matched that of the woman in the security footage.
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“Everything was documented,” Mercedes Phillips, a spokesperson for the department, said in a video posted to its Instagram account.
Velez told the officer who arrested her that she did not recall stealing from Target and after she was shown a photo of the woman from the store’s security video, she “verbally confirmed” that she was the woman in the photo and video, the probable cause affidavit says.
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While in the Lee County Jail, Velez is alleged to have said “lesson learned” multiple times, according to the probable cause affidavit. The officer who arrested her asked her while she was at the jail whether she still had the stolen merchandise and she is alleged to have responded that she may still have some of the items, “to include some Christmas decorations,” the affidavit states.
Phillips thanked the community for its help in identifying Velez.
Velez was arrested and charged with one count of petty theft. She was released on $150 bail and is due in court Dec. 10, court records show. She could not immediately be reached at a number or an email address listed for her or through her TikTok account.
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