TikTok influencer Marlena Velez arrested after allegedly bragging about shoplifting Target merchandise on video

A Florida-based TikTok influencer was arrested after showing off merchandise she allegedly stole from her local Target in a video sent to her more than 300,000 followers.

Marlena Velez, 22, is charged with petit larceny for allegedly stealing more than $500 from the Target store in Cape Coral on Oct. 30, according to Fort Myers News-Press.

The retail chain’s loss prevention team told Cape Coral police that a shoplifter was allegedly caught on a security camera at a self-checkout register scanning a fake barcode that showed lower prices for the items in their cart.

Police said the suspect stole 16 items, including household items and clothing valued at $500.32.

Officers reviewed and verified Target’s security footage and then posted a photo 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 mother of two on TikTok, was then identified as the shoplifter by an anonymous caller who claimed 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 and showed her wearing the same clothes and glasses the suspect was wearing in the security footage from the target, according to Fox 4 Now.

The since-deleted TikTok video also showed her documenting picking out items inside the target and placing them in her car afterwards.

“She essentially incriminated herself,” Cape Coral Police Department spokesman Riley Carter said. Express Tribune.

“Social media provided us with an unexpected lead that expedited her identification and subsequent arrest.”

Velez was arrested Thursday and charged with one count of petit larceny of more than $100, less than $750.

TikTokker’s crime also showed her past criminal history.

In 2019, Velez was arrested when she was just 17 years old, charged with stealing her friend’s car and crashing it.

Velez’s former high school friend, Amanda Santana, said NBC 2 that when they were friends attending Ida Baker High School, Velez asked Santana to sit in his car during classes until lunchtime. Santana, trusting her good friend, handed her the keys.

But 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 for my car and I can’t find it, so I actually, like double-checked, looked everywhere and I was like, where’s my car?” Santana said Friday.

“We found out she went and crashed my car and totaled it in a ditch at a Dunkin’ on Cape Coral Parkway.”

Santana claims that Velez never paid for any of the damages.

“It’s like she’s never felt remorse,” she told the newspaper.

Velez was also arrested in July 2023 for shoplifting at a Walmart in Cape Coral.

A report from the store said she subpoenaed items “by scanning an item and then placing another item under the scanned item,” according to NBC 2.

Velez stole $63 in kitchen items, pleaded no contest to the charges last April and was ordered to complete a theft prevention course and serve six months of probation – which ended last month.

“She has lived recklessly and displayed a lifestyle that does not match her actions,” Santana said.

After her latest arrest, the Cape Coral Police Department said Velez’s social media following will not protect her from consequences for her actions if she is found guilty.

“Influencers should take the same consequences as everyone else,” Carter said Express Tribune.

“Their public image does not exempt them from the law.”