TikTok Creator Marlena Velez Arrested for Shoplifting After Posting Her Stolen Target Goods

Influencers can be known to post some pretty cringe-worthy stuff online — just ask Whitney Leavitt, who went viral in 2021 for sharing a video of herself dancing in front of her sick baby in the NICU. But even that doesn't come close to the situation surrounding creator Marlena Velez, whose Target shopping video ended in her arrest in November.

Marlena's TikTok account has now been deactivated, but the damning video has been re-shared all over the platform, as well as the mainstream news. If you're wondering exactly what happened, you're not alone.

Here's what we know.

On Oct. 30, officers from the Cape Coral Police Department responded to a call from a local Target after they claim that a young woman entered the store, shopped around, and then left with over $500 worth of stolen merchandise. According to reports, the woman used a self-checkout machine to make her purchase. However, instead of scanning the correct barcodes, she used "a false barcode with cheaper prices."

They weren't able to catch her in the act, but they used their social media pages to post stills captured from CCTV footage — which showed a woman with long black hair, a tan shirt, tan pants, and glasses — in the hopes that someone with information would come forward. And boy did they ever.

Following their post, the police received an anonymous tip that pointed them toward 22-year-old TikTok influencer Marlena Velez.

Upon investigation into Marlena's social media presence, officers discovered that Marlena had filmed herself on the day of the incident, getting ready in her tan pants and shirt and heading into Target to go shopping. Throughout her trip, she showed off all of the goodies that she found and purchased — and they happened to match the shoplifted items.

As it turns out, the tip came from someone who had seen her video on the app and matched it to the image posted by the CCPD.

Thanks to this information, officers were able to locate Marlena and place her under arrest, taking her to the Lee County Jail, per an informational post made on the CCPD Facebook page. She's currently facing charges of petit theft for more than $100 and less than $750, which is Florida's version of petty theft.

Per additional reports, Marlena has since been released on a bail of $200 — though investigations are currently taking place into whether or not this was her first shoplifting offense.

As of writing, both Marlena's TikTok and Instagram accounts have been wiped off the internet, but at the time of her crime, she had amassed over 300,000 followers between apps.

She also seems to be a mother to two young children named Anastasia and Isaiah, per her now-deleted Instagram bio.