A TikTok influencer from South Florida has been arrested again for stealing from her local Target – just 10 days after her first arrest for stealing from the same store.
Marlena Velez, 22, who has nearly 300,000 followers on the video-sharing app where she posts videos about her life as a mother of two, was taken into custody Saturday and charged with additional theft in connection with a shoplifting incident near the Cape Coral Target on November 20 NBC 2 reports.
Police say she entered the store and selected 16 household items and clothing valued at $225, but used a fake barcode to scan the items at the self-checkout for a lower price — which was captured on surveillance footage.
Officers were ultimately able to positively identify Velez as the perpetrator of her previous arrest and because her phone background from the security footage matched a photo she shared on Instagram of her and her family. according to the Fort Myers News-Press.
Investigators also said a man was with her when she shoplifted from the store.
He had a distinctive arm tattoo, which police say appears in Velez’s TikTok videos.
Just one day after that brazen theft, she was arrested for doing the same thing at the same Target store weeks earlier.
In that case, police say Velez entered the store on Oct. 30 and stole another 16 items — including household items and clothing — valued at $500.32.
Marlena Velez, 22, is accused of shoplifting at a Target store in Cape Coral, Florida
She was arrested Saturday for the Nov. 20 shoplifting incident — just 10 days after her first arrest for theft from the same store
During the investigation into that incident, Cape Coral police shared a photo of the suspect captured on surveillance footage that showed her wearing glasses, with long black hair, a tan shirt and tan pants.
It wasn’t long before police received an anonymous call from one of Velez’s followers, identifying her as the suspect, police said.
They claimed the anonymous caller also gave officers her Instagram account, and from there officers were able to trace her TikTok page.
It included a “get ready with me” video from the day of the alleged shoplifting incident, showing her in the same outfit while going to Target and TJ Maxx, Fox 4 Now reports.
She then documented herself choosing items in the store and then placing them in her car in the since-deleted video.
“She basically incriminated herself,” said CCPD spokesperson Riley Carter told the Express Tribune.
Velez was caught on surveillance video approaching the self-checkout on November 20
She allegedly used a fake barcode to scan the items at the self-checkout for a lower price
Her first arrest brought renewed attention to her previous criminal history.
Velez was first arrested for car theft in 2019 at the age of 17 when she stole her friend Amanda Santana’s car and crashed it.
“She took a class from me at Ida Baker High School and we hit it off,” Santana told NBC 2.
She explained that one day Velez asked her to sit in her car during class until lunchtime, and Santana confided in her good friend and handed her the keys.
When Santana later returned to the parking lot, she said she couldn’t find her car.
‘I went to the parking lot and looked for my car, but I couldn’t find it, so I checked again, looked in all directions and thought, “Where’s my car?”
A few hours later, Santana said she learned her friend had driven her vehicle into a ditch at Dunkin’ Donuts.
She claims Velez never paid for the damages.
“It’s like she never had any regrets,” Santana said.
Velez now faces two charges of petit larceny and is scheduled to be arraigned on December 10.
She was first arrested for shoplifting at Target after posting a video of herself shopping at the store on October 30, wearing the same clothes as the suspect who robbed the store using a fake barcode.
Velez was also arrested in July 2023 for shoplifting at a Walmart in Cape Coral.
According to NBC 2, a report from the store said the store placed items under the ring “by scanning one item and then placing another item under the scanned item.”
She ultimately stole $63 worth of kitchen items and pleaded no contest to the charges last April.
Velez was ordered to complete an anti-theft course and serve six months of probation, which ended in October.
She now faces two charges of petit larceny and is due back in court on December 10 for an arraignment after posting her $500 bail.