Photo: Cape Coral Police Department
A Florida-based influencer was arrested after she allegedly flaunted goods stolen from Target on her TikTok account.
Marlena Velez, 22, faces charges of petty theft of more than $100, but less than $750, after allegedly stealing items valued at more than $500 from a store in Cape Coral on October 30, the Fort Myers News-Press reports. Target's loss prevention team told the Cape Coral Police Department that surveillance footage caught a shoplifter scanning a fake barcode listing lower prices for the items in their cart, stealing 16 items valued at a total of $500.32.
The department reviewed and verified the surveillance footage and shared a photo of the suspect on its social media pages before Velez was identified by an anonymous caller claiming to be one of her followers. The tipster provided officers with her Instagram handle, which had a link to her TikTok account featuring a get-ready-with-me video from the day of the alleged shoplifting incident showing her wearing the same outfit and glasses as the suspect caught on surveillance footage, FOX 4 Now reports.
Velez recorded herself picking out items inside the store and putting them in her car in the since-deleted TikTok video.
“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, a mother of two, was previously arrested on grand theft auto charges after stealing her friend's car and crashing it at the age of 17, as well as shoplifting at a Walmart in Cape Coral in July 2023.