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A Florida TikTok influencer and mother-of-two who built an online following with lifestyle and fashion videos was arrested over the weekend after police say she tried to hide from officers inside a parked SUV.
Cape Coral police said Marlena Velez, 23, was taken into custody Oct. 12 following weeks of evading law enforcement tied to a probation violation and a fleeing charge stemming from a September traffic stop.
According to police, officers spotted a gray 2022 Kia Sorento linked to Velez that afternoon. During the stop, officers initially saw her in the passenger seat but moments later, she appeared to vanish.
“A flashlight scan revealed Velez lying on the backseat floorboard, attempting to hide,” the department said in a release.
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Both she and the driver were detained as dispatch confirmed her active warrants. Velez now faces two counts of probation violation and one count of fleeing and eluding law enforcement. She remains in custody at the Lee County Jail without bond.
The arrest follows a Sept. 29 incident in which an officer attempted to pull Velez over after recognizing her driving through a residential neighborhood. Police say she sped away at high speed, forcing the officer to disengage the chase. That pursuit led to the additional fleeing charge added this week.
Investigators say Velez’s legal troubles began nearly a year ago, when she was accused of using fake barcodes at a Cape Coral Target to purchase items at reduced prices, thefts that police say were confirmed through security video and her own TikTok activity.
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Officers identified Velez through a social media tip and later verified her identity by matching Instagram and TikTok posts from the same timeframe. Days later, she was arrested again at the same store for a nearly identical incident.
Despite the mounting charges, Velez continued posting to her account, @marlenavelezz, which has more than 528,000 followers and 11.8 million likes. Her content includes lifestyle clips, family vlogs and “get ready with me” routines, the same style of videos that once helped police identify her in the Target theft case.
Florida law allows police to hold suspects accused of probation violations without bond. Her original charges stemmed from petit theft cases valued under $750.
Velez is scheduled to appear in Lee County court later this month.
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