Lee County Sheriff’s Office
22-year-old TikTok influencer Marlena Velez was arrested by police in Cape Coral, Florida and charged with theft from a Target store on Saturday. Her arrest came one week after she was arrested and accused of posting a video with $500 worth of stolen items from the same Target store in October.
In fact, Velez, who boasts over 422,000 followers on TikTok, allegedly stole items from the store on Nov. 20 – the same day she was arrested for the alleged theft in October.
“On Saturday, November 30, 2024, at approximately 1120 hours, officers working for the Cape Coral Police Department were dispatched to Target, located at 1890 NE Pine Island Road in Cape Coral, Florida, in reference to a retail theft,” the Cape Coral Police Department wrote on Instagram on Monday.
“Officers met with Target’s loss prevention staff, who advised that on November 20, 2024, a known repeat female suspect, Marlena Velez (DOB 08/16/2002), entered the store and selected items that were listed for sale.
“Once at the self-checkout register, the female suspect did not scan some of the items but rather scanned a false barcode instead of the real barcodes on the merchandise. Sixteen items of miscellaneous household goods and clothing were stolen. The total loss of the stolen items is valued at $225.00.
“Officers recognized Marlena Velez from a prior arrest and were able to positively identify her,” the Cape Coral Police Department post continued. “Officers were also able to positively identify Velez after reviewing the security video footage from this case and observing the wallpaper picture on Velez’s phone. The picture was the same one that was posted on Marlena Velez’s Instagram account with her and her family and is the same wallpaper picture from the previous case.
“Furthermore, in this case, an adult male was present with her during the theft. The male has a distinct/unique tattoo on his left arm that is the same tattoo shown on a male that is shown in some of Velez’s TikTok videos. They responded to her address and placed her under arrest.”
Marlena Velez would go on to post $500 bail and was released on Dec. 1, according to Lee County Sheriff’s Office inmate records. She is scheduled to appear in court Dec. 10 — the same date scheduled for her previous theft arrest.
NBC News reports that police said that while she was in jail following her first arrest, Velez was recorded on security cameras saying, “Lesson learned.” Apparently not.
The New York Post reports Velez was also arrested in July 2023 for shoplifting at a Walmart in Cape Coral. She was also arrested in 2019 on grand theft auto charges, when she was 17-years-old, for stealing her friend’s car and crashing it.
If prosecutors are able to get the TikToker convicted sequentially for both theft cases, she will face a maximum sentence of one year in prison.