Florida TikTok influencer arrested for stealing from Target: Police

ONE TikTok influencer was arrested Wednesday for stealing about $500 from a Florida Target last month, police said.

The Cape Coral Police Department said officers responded to the store at 1890 NE Pine Island Road in Cape Coral.

Employees told officers that a woman entered the store on October 30, 2024 and grabbed several items that were for sale.

At the self-checkout register, the woman did not scan the bar codes of the goods, but instead scanned a fake bar code with cheaper prices, the police said in a press release.

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Police tracked down the Target theft suspect thanks to an anonymous tip. (Cape Coral Police Department; Lee County Sheriff’s Office)

16 items of miscellaneous household items and clothing were stolen, valued at just over $500.

The Cape Coral Police Department posted the suspect’s photo on its Facebook and Instagram page to aid in identification.

Police said the suspect posted a video wearing the same clothing seen in security footage. (Cape Coral Police Department)

An anonymous caller saw the post and provided the suspect’s possible identification as 22-year-old Marlena Velez, a TikTok influencer with nearly 300,000 followers.

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Officers found Velez’s account, which included a video of her wearing the same clothes and glasses as the suspect seen on Target’s video cameras. The video showed her selecting items inside Target and placing them in her car after leaving the store on the same day as the reported theft.

The suspect posted a TikTok video showing her placing the stolen items from Target. (Cape Coral Police Department)

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Cape Coral Police concluded that Velez was the same suspect that Target was accused of stealing items on Oct. 30. Officers located Velez and took her to the Lee County Jail on a single charge of petit larceny.