Marlena Velez, a popular TikTok content creator with over 300,000 followers and over 8.5m lifetime likes on her content, has been arrested and jailed for stealing from Target. Velez, 22, visited the Target store at 1890 N.E. Pine Island Road in Cape Coral, Florida, on October 30th, 2024, for shopping.

After completing her shopping, Velez scanned a false barcode with far cheaper prices than what she had actually purchased, leading to the store suffering a loss of $500 in the difference of value between the items purchased and the payment she made.

Loss prevention staff at the popular retail store noticed the discrepancy and informed Cape Coral Police, who commenced an investigation. Cape Coral Police determined she stole 16 items between household goods and clothing with the exact figure being $500.32.

Officers verified the theft via the store’s security cameras and developed a suspect, a female between the ages of 20 and 35 with long black hair and wearing a tan shirt, tan pants, and glasses.

A photo of the suspect was shared on social media and incredibly, a follower of Marlena recognized her and called the cops anonymously. The follower provided the cops with her IG handle which led them to her TikTok handle where incredibly, officers found a video she posted on October 30th getting ready to visit Target wearing the same clothing and glasses as the suspect.

Officers located Marlena Velez and arrested her. She was booked into the Lee County jail on charges of petty theft of an item more than $100 and less than $750.

It’s currently unclear if Velez made bail and is back home however, Cape Coral Police posted a belated video on her arrest which can be watched here. The video attracted some interesting comments from followers of the Cape Coral Police Department.

“Billionaire corporation owners too cheap to hire cashiers should expect to get ripped off,” one user wrote.

Another said: “I bet she isn’t posting her perp walk…..”

Others were a bit more sympathetic, with one user writing: “Everyone makes mistakes leave her alone. Everyone sins, having forgiveness is a part of the bible.”

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