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A Florida TikTok influencer’s alleged shoplifting scheme at Target was exposed after she documented her actions on social media, leading to her arrest by Cape Coral authorities.
Marlena Velez, who commands a following of over 356,000 on TikTok with her maternal content and product reviews, found herself in legal trouble after reportedly executing a barcode switching scheme at a local Target store.
22-year-old Marlena Velez, on TikTok with over 300,000 followers, has been arrested after using fake barcodes to steal from Target & filming herself getting ready before the alleged theft.
Make sure your kids aren't idolizing people like this🤦🏽♀️
She changed her account name &… pic.twitter.com/YGwJcRcm0C
— Orietta Rose 🇺🇲 (@0riettaRose) November 27, 2024
The incident unfolded on October 30 when Target’s loss prevention team identified a customer manipulating the self-checkout system by using counterfeit barcodes with reduced prices.
Police in a press release stated: “Sixteen items of miscellaneous household goods and clothing were stolen. The total loss of the stolen items was valued at $500.32. Officers verified this with Target’s security cameras.”
Following a public appeal for information, an anonymous tip led investigators to Velez’s social media presence, where they discovered damaging evidence of the incident.
“Officers then found Marlena’s TikTok account, which documents her getting ready on October 30, 2024, in the same outfit and glasses and going to Target,” the police said in a statement. “Marlena documents herself picking out items inside the store and placing them in her car after exiting the store.”
Although the incriminating TikTok post was subsequently removed, law enforcement had already preserved the evidence, leading to Velez’s arrest on November 21 and her booking into Lee County Jail on petit theft charges.
“She essentially incriminated herself,” Officer Riley Carter, the police department’s spokesperson, told the Express Tribune. “Social media gave us an unexpected lead, which expedited her identification and subsequent arrest.”
This wasn’t Velez’s first brush with the law. In 2019, she faced charges for allegedly stealing and crashing a friend’s vehicle.
Amanda Santana — Velez’s former high school friend — told the news outlet, “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 continued, “We figured out that she went and crashed my car and totaled it into a ditch at a Dunkin’ on Cape Coral Parkway.”
Some people out here risk everything for social media fame.
Marlena Velez, a TikTok star with nearly 300k followers, thought she'd take her 'content creation' to the next level by getting arrested for shoplifting at Target. 🤦♀️
She scanned fake barcodes at the self-checkout… pic.twitter.com/zJVFVRcWy7
— FSociety 🐱💻 (@fuxsociety1337) November 26, 2024
Santana claimed, “There’s a restitution that she has not paid for. And actually, not even a dime that she has paid for.”
Additionally, records show she was arrested in July 2023 for a $63 shoplifting incident at Walmart, where security footage revealed her under-ringing items at self-checkout. After pleading no contest, she completed an anti-theft course and served six months of probation, which concluded recently.
