TikTok Influencer Caught Shoplifting Again After Flaunting Stolen Goods Online: Police

Crime

Marlena Velez, a TikTok influencer who made headlines last month after flaunting merchandise that she had allegedly stolen from a Target location, has been arrested again for another alleged theft at the same store.

Velez, 22, was taken into custody Saturday — her second arrest in less than two weeks — after making off with $225 worth of merchandise from the Target store in Cape Coral, Florida, police there said Monday.

This followed her Nov. 21 arrest for stealing $500 worth of merchandise by scanning a false barcode at a self-checkout counter, which made her items appear cheaper, police said.

Marlena Velez, 22, is seen during an alleged shoplifting incident on Oct. 30, which resulted in her arrest on Nov. 21. She was later arrested a second time for an alleged shoplifting incident that took place Nov. 20.

Velez, who boasts around 420,000 followers on TikTok, did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment Tuesday.

Her arrests followed police initially reaching out to the public for help identifying a shoplifter with an image from surveillance footage that they said was taken during Velez’s first shoplifting spree, which was said to have occurred Oct. 30.

She was quickly identified by someone who also flagged her presence on social media, with a TikTok page showcasing Velez’s own footage of her going to the store on the day of the October theft, police said.

Police said they found footage posted online by Velez that showed her going to Target on the October day when she stole various items.

The video allegedly showed her selecting various items in the store that were not ultimately paid for. Police noted that she was wearing the same beige outfit and glasses that were seen in the store’s surveillance footage.

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“Everything was documented, even the outfit that she wore,” Mercedes Phillips, a spokesperson for the department, said in a social media video that featured some alleged clips from Velez’s TikTok page, which has since been made private.

It wasn’t until weeks after the first alleged theft that the incident was reported to police by the store’s loss prevention officers. By the time Velez was taken into custody on Nov. 21, she had already carried out the second theft on Nov. 20, according to police.

A police spokesperson declined to say in an email to HuffPost whether Velez is being investigated for any additional thefts at the store or elsewhere.

Velez faces a total of two counts of petty theft for the two incidents. Online records show that she was released from a Lee County jail Sunday after posting $500 bond.