Florida woman arrested for shoplifting after posting video showing Target haul

Dylan Horetski
Marlena Valez arrested

A woman in Cape Coral, Florida, has been arrested for shoplifting after she posted a video on TikTok showing her allegedly stolen haul from Target.

The Cape Coral police department was called to a local Target on Wednesday, November 20, for a past theft from the business.

The store said that on October 30, a woman later identified as Marlena Valez entered the store and grabbed items off the rack. Once at the self-checkout, Valez allegedly scanned a fake barcode that allowed her to pay lower prices.

It’s reported that 16 items were stolen with a total value of $500, and officers looked at security footage in an attempt to identify the woman. They then posted a picture of Valez on Instagram, where users identified her and sent the Police Department her social media handles.

Videos posted on her Instagram and TikTok helped police identify Valez. One video even showed her wearing the same outfit she had on in the surveillance footage from the local Target store.

Valez’s Instagram and TikTok pages have since been deleted, but the Cape Coral Police Department post on Instagram shows part of the video she had posted on both accounts.

The woman was arrested on November 21 and was released from custody just hours later after paying a $150 cash bond according to the Lee County Jail website.

Valez isn’t the first TikTok influencer to get arrested this year either. Back in May, Bryanthediamond was arrested and charged with driving under the influence as well as fleeing the scene of an accident, prompting backlash from followers in the process.

In October, TikToker Mr. Prada was arrested and charged with second-degree murder after the influencer allegedly murdered his therapist and stole his car.