On November 21st, 2024, officers from the Cape Coral Police Department showed up to Tik Tok star Marlina Velesa's house after she was suspected of multiple retail thefts at Target. What you're about to watch is the initial and subsequent arrest. Hey. Hey. Just run this tag real quick when you come up. K4, please. Let's see if she's uh available to talk to us real quick. Pull out. Thank you. [Music] Hello, Gore Police. I'm Marina. Do you have a second? Um, yes. Can I just put a jacket on? Absolutely. Go ahead. Okay. Soon as she comes out the jacket. She answered the door. She's just getting a jacket. No, I mean no. [Music] Soon as she comes up, as soon as she comes Hi. Are are you able to talk? Are you are the are you the only one home or My kids are home. Okay. Is anybody else home? No, it's just my kids. Okay. Do you mind if you talk to us real quick? Sure. So, uh I want to talk to you about a certain incident. Okay. But before I do that, I'm going to ask you to turn around. Okay. Put your hands behind your back. Okay. Okay. Um, what about my kids? All right. I will figure out an arrangement for your kids. I can I just call my Yeah, you can. You can. Okay. So, we'll give you that opportunity. All right. Can I change? No. No. Not right now. Why is this locked on your sweater? How? Like I'm literally freezing. Like I'm not allowed to change. No. Like my kids are literally babies. I understand that. I saw them in the security video footage. What security video footage? Okay. I'm going to I'm going to bring you to my car. Okay. Wait. Um, is your uh Where's your kids sleeping or where's your phone? You need to call your Yes, I do. That's fine. We'll do that for you. We'll uh wait for her to come here, but we'll we'll walk to my car in the meantime. Okay, I'm going to take a photo. Thank you. How old are your kids? Um 3 and one. I'm going to stay right here just in case I wake up. He's not leaving until someone else comes. All right. Okay. We can we like wait inside. I'm cold. Or am I? You're going to be in my car. It'll be warmer in there. You don't have anything on you, right? I know you just woke up, but do you have anything in pockets or anything like that? You know, I wish I would be able to change though. Okay, we're going to go on the other side. You stand here, face the car, and then spread your feet. I'm just going to pat you down with the back of my hand. All right. Make sure you don't have any weapons or anything here. I'm going to open the door so you can get um air conditioning. What? Well, not air conditioning, but like you know, not the heater, but just constant air flow so it doesn't get stuck in one thing. Yeah, I'm going to change it to read. Does Nick Jones got charges as well? I'm going to call him, give him the opportunity to if he has found probable cause, but I don't know if he's found PC fry. Okay. I mean, it's just a it's a video. Is he doing on him? I don't know. I have no idea. I'm out here clicking this hard. All right, I'm just going to read you something. Okay, you just listen. If you want to talk to me after, that's fine. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can't be used against you in court. You have the right to talk to a lawyer for advice before we ask you any questions and to have them with you during questioning. If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be appointed for you before any questioning if you wish. If you decide to answer questions without a lawyer present, you will still have the right to stop answering at any time. You also have the right to stop answering at any time until you talk to a lawyer. Do you understand each of these rights I've explained to you? I need a verbal. Yes. Yes. With these rights in mind, do you wish to speak to me? Um, yes. Okay. Do you know why we're here? No. just asked you that earlier. Okay. I know you had said something. You thought it was something to do with Walmart on the phone. Okay. Why do you think that? Um I don't know. He said something about security camera footage. Okay. And I remember I was only at Walmart yesterday. So, Gotcha. All right. Well, um do you shop at Target often? Walmart? Walmart? Not Target? I do shop at Target. Okay. Um, do you remember an incident in October? Um, okay. Um, I don't remember the exact dates that I go. Okay, that's fine. Um, so I'm going to be real with you. Okay, so there's security video footage of you um, stealing from Target. Okay. Um, you go to October. Yeah. tell tell me if it you know if I have it wrong or or what or correct me if I have a if you have a different point of view. Um you go to a selfch checkout. Um you have a separate little barcode scanner. You scan multiple times. It rings up for a dollar and then you take the merchandise pass the scanner and put everything in a bag. And you do that multiple times to multiple items. Um, and then you put it in the cart that has your two kids in it. So, I was just wondering kind of what was going through your head at that point in October. Yeah. Don't remember doing that. Okay. You don't remember doing that? No. Okay. All right. I mean, that's fine that you don't remember, but it happened. It's on video. Um, that's submitted into our evidence department. Okay. So, that's what you're being arrested for is theft. All right. So, we're going to head down to the Lee County Jail based off of that. Do you have any questions or do you have any comments? I do. I Okay, go ahead. I'm here. I need to call my um boyfriend. Okay. I just don't have his number. So, Okay. How do we get his number? The only number it's on my phone. Oh, okay. Well, I'm bringing your phone to the jail. Um, once we get to the jail, uh, there's a booking process. So, I have to do some paperwork, right? Once I finish my paperwork, I hand you over to the Lee County, uh, Sheriff's Office deputies intake. They grab you, they get your phones out, uh, the numbers out your phone. Okay? So, that at that point is when you'll get the number for your boyfriend and you'll be able to call him once I transfer custody to for the jail. Okay. Okay. And then what after? That's up to you and the judge. You have to speak to the judge. No. Either I don't know. You might make it in time for first appearance. You might not. That's depending on the whole booking process. Okay. But if you do, you might speak to them this morning. If not, you'll speak to them tomorrow morning. Tomorrow morning. Correct. So like what does that mean? What do you mean? You'll be held in the jail until you are able to speak to the judge. What even? There might that's what that's what happens when you steal. You know what I mean? There might be a second periods at 11, but I'm not sure. Yeah, there there might, like I said, only the benefit to you right now is that it's really early and that they haven't even opened yet. So, if we're able to How long does it take? What? This whole process, me doing the paperwork and stuff and getting you into the jail. Well, since we do have to wait for whoever you called um to come and watch the kids, hopefully 7:30 right now, if I can knock out the paperwork and there's no line at the jail, it's probably going to take us what with uh morning traffic 30 minutes to get to the jail. It's downtown Fort Myers, so that's at 8:00, maybe 10:30. Okay. And I like I said, I'll try and do my best. I don't want to be in the jail as much as you how much um it was at Target. What do you mean? Do you know how much? It's a it's a misdemeanor charge. So, I would just be careful because there are other cases open. Okay. You didn't just steal from this target on this particular day. You also did it multiple other times. Okay. So, there may be other charges pending. Okay. But right now, me and my I'm investigating a certain case. I have found probable cause to make an arrest for my case. There are other cases right now that are being investigated. I'm just giving you that heads up. So, right now, you have a misdemeanor charge with me, but you may have a felony down the road coming. Just letting you know. I I So, there's other ones open. Like, what does that mean? There may be. I I don't know. I'm not saying that you're ing how there maybe I only go to one target. Well, that's that's not true, you know, because we have you on security video footage at others. Okay. What others? I'm not I I don't know specifics about other cases. All I know is this case is my case and I like I said, I found probable cause to make an arrest. Okay. Do you have any other questions or comments? And will I be able to talk to um my grandma before she goes? Yeah, I'll let her talk to you. Do you feel comfortable with It's your grandma, you said? Yeah. Coming here and watching over the kids. Yeah. Okay. No, she um watches them all the time. I just want to make sure that we if we take you to jail that you're giving or the caretaker custody of your kids in the meantime. Oh, no. Yeah, she watches them all the time. Okay, good. Do you happen to have your ID in the house? Um, just for the jail purpose. Sometimes it's like in my little wallet and I leave it in like my pants pockets, but Okay. It's either in my purse or like in one of my pants pockets. Gotcha. Well, just cuz the jail's going to ask cuz they they usually like an ID. So, what Give me your first name. Spell it for me. M A R L E N A. You have a middle name? Um Lynn L Y N. Okay. And your last name? This is your primary residence here? Yeah. All right. Where were you born? What city, state? Um, New York. New York. New York. New York. Yes. Are you employed? Um, let's see. I'm just trying to think because there's other questions I just got to ask you about, you know, demographics and stuff, but I I may ask you later because I have to pull it up. I'm just trying to see if I remember everything. That'll be all for now. Any other questions, comments, concerns that I can answer for you? Just trying to be real with you, that's all. Um, nope. I just need to sleep with my Okay, that's fine. I'll close the door now. Okay. Man, this is the old goons, bro. Look at this. Wait for it. Wait for it. You can tell this old footage. Look at the vehicle now. Look at this. Look at this. Look at this. Wait for it. Hey, if you want to just stay 1012 real quick. Yeah. Oh, I got her phone right here. Oh, I'll take it. Put it back. Let me go. I guess if she was doing the same thing of the the or Target. So, I don't know if you know. Yeah, she's just claiming I mean, I read her she was willing to talk, but she's claiming she doesn't remember. So, we'll just start showing her pictures. It's all right. She don't want I want I don't I want that. No conference. No, I I don't need to come. I was just going to I wasn't I don't want to tell her about the investigation. No, 100% public social cuz I don't want her to go home and delete everything. No. No. Yeah, 100% 100% I agree with you. So that it was easy to identify her. You know what I mean? Absolutely. As soon as she opened the door and then she just gave me touch. So it's crazy. Yep. All right. Lower your window. [Applause] Ma'am, she's over here. She's over here. She wants to talk to you. Sorry about that. She's over here on this side. Yeah, she's right. So, what happened? Do you know? He said something at Target. Like some stuff had been scanned. Target or or Walmart? Which one? He said Target. Well, you better figure it out. I have to I have to call because I had to cancel my eye doctor appointment. Okay, I'll text you and tell him. Yes, but don't call anyone else. I won't. I won't. I won't. Wait. Yeah. Don't call anyone else. Tell him. Do not I mean I'll tell him, but tell him do not call anyone. But I'm going to call him. Anastasia's not going to freak today, right? Take her. Oh, no. I'm not going to do that because then I have to get Papa. I say I up too. Okay. She could scan something today. All right. Love you. Love you, too. Remember what I said. Don't worry. Don't worry. I got it. Okay. Thank you. Of course. Just real quick, ma'am. I'm good. So, it's going to be this house right here with the key. Um, if you just want to hang back on the side by the garage or by the window. Yeah. No, I'll have you I'll have you close up just in case I have to go inside the house if she starts closing the door. I just I want her to feel like it's more like a followup to the last one. Yeah. If you want to just run this real quick. [Applause] Get call please. Hey, looking for Marina. Just got to follow up with her. Okay. Appreciate that, man. [Music] Dude's here. He might He might cause a problem. [Applause] Soon as she steps out, I'm cooking. So, if you want to come up on She's She's just getting dressed. Thank you. Thanks. Car show right there. Yeah, it's nice. Couple hundred people. Yeah, it's a good bit. down here. Uh I don't know if they do it here often, but I know there's usually one off of uh I know there's some Northern Yeah. No. Yeah, I didn't know this was a thing. the street. I'm going pull up. Just hold her over here so she doesn't have to walk across the whole thing. [Applause] It's a weird song. They got one at the end of the good song nonetheless. Classic. [Music] [Music] Come back. [Applause] Hello Marina. Hi. Remember me? Just got to follow up with you. That's all. Can I talk to you? Sure. In here or It doesn't matter. Wherever you need. What's up? You want it in there or It's going to be quick, so we can go in there. Whatever you want. So, you know how I said that there was going to be some follow-up investigations the first time I saw you? This is one of them. All right. So, I'm going to need you to put your hands behind your back. Wait, what? Put your hands behind your back. Wait. Don't fight it. Don't fight it. Don't fight it. Wait. I have to put I will talk to you in a second. All right. Just give us a second. Just give us a second. Bro, this is why I told you call um Sydney. Call my dad. Call my grandma. Tell him to call my lawyer now. Hold on. Just stay over there. You guys said that you guys were just coming for a followup. Yep. This is the followup. This is a followup right now that we're doing. I told her this the first time I saw her. Well, I don't understand why you guys were putting a handcuff. I'll explain it. Can you just call someone here? You need shoes. Do you have shoes? Does she have shoes at the front? Yeah. 412. You got to be [ __ ] kidding me. I told you not to open the door. Yeah. 2411 cable. I'm going to have a Hispanic female 1015 for signal 25. You don't have anything on you? No weapons? No. Nothing. Nothing illegal. Take a seat. We'll have a female officer here in a second. Ridiculous. Sure. Stay with her. Yeah, stay with her. Talk to me. You have any questions that I can answer for you? Yeah, I just want to say, can you put Sydney on the phone? The cops came back. Can you put Sydney on the phone, add her to this call, please? The cops came. The cops came and yes, they said that they came for a checkup and instead that they put her in handcuffs. A followup. talk. They uh they told me that they just came to do a follow-up and they they didn't explain that they were going to do anything. They just said that they were going to do a follow-up. She came to the door and immediately she came to the door, they put her in handcuffs. What the [ __ ] You have questions so that I can answer for you. All right, let me call. Well, let me ask you. Yeah, I do have a couple questions. Okay. So, you guys didn't tell me that you guys you guys just said that you guys were coming for a followup. Correct. This is a followup. I had when I arrested her the first time when she committed the theft, I explained to her that there was ongoing investigations and that she made need to hear those out. This is one of them. This is a follow-up to what I had a conversation with her. So, her hearing you out is putting her in handcuffs. No, that's not what I said. I didn't say hear me out. I said so there is going to be investigations open, right? Okay. That she's going to have to Yeah. Yeah. on here. Hi. Okay. Yeah. I'm I'm with the officer right now cuz they they just came into the front door and they said that they were going to do a followup and they didn't say that they were going to put the handcuffs on her. Would you have not let me speak to her if you were going to do that? And they And as soon as she came to the door, they just they told her that they were going to talk to her and instead that they just put the handcuffs on her. The officer said that they came to do a follow-up and they supposedly they told her that they were going to do a followup, but they didn't say nothing about putting handcuffs on her again. They said that well that's what happens when she commits thefts. You know what I mean? I I it's out of my control. It's the people who want to press charges, right? So, for theft for theft. Simple as that. Could Could you Could you tell that to the officer? Who is this? Yeah. Her lawyer. I'm not talking to you. Okay. Okay. Okay. Well, I guess he he doesn't want to talk to you. I don't have her lawyer. Yeah. You're on speaker. Does she know why she's under arrest? Like someone needs to she needs to know why she's under arrest. She cannot just be arrest. Do you have any other questions for me that pertains to anything that I can help you with right now? I just want answers. I mean, she's right. I mean, here's your answer. She's being arrested for theft right now. Mhm. She may get a bond. She may not. It's a case- by case basis. She has to speak to a judge. Same deal as this first time. She has a court date on December 10th. Okay, that's fine. Yeah, but she you already came the first time to arrest her, correct? Why are you coming again? Cuz she stole again. Where did she steal again? That's something that she's going to have to talk to the judge about. She knows. Yeah. Why did she steal again, though? You But you guys had already arrested her the first time, correct? That was a different That was a different incident. She stole one day. Few days go by, she steals again. And that's not the same incident. It's two totally different times. She hasn't even been out the house since the first time you guys came. I didn't I didn't say it was within the last week. I didn't say that. We're just right now we're waiting for a female officer to search her and uh I'm headed out. All right. on charges. You already knew that you charge initially, but you're saying this is beyond Target. It's from a different lawyer. Is this from a different store? They're not going to tell you because they they So, it's as simple as she committed a theft. All right. I have to do my job, right? I'm law enforcement. Yeah. Somebody wants to press charges for a criminal act, that's my job. I have to go arrest somebody for that. Right? This is me doing my job. I have no choice. Right? She committed a theft. She has to pay the consequence. I I I just I don't get it. You guys had already arrested her the first time. But so if she commits a theft from a year a year ago, right? Say just say I'm hypothetical and she commits another theft tomorrow. Does that first theft, her being charged for that first theft, cover this charge, this theft yesterday? But if you guys knew about it, why did you say anything about it? I didn't know about this one. The Kore Police Department sure did know about it. They knew about it. I I don't know. It seems like you knew it. You're back here again. I knew it today. That's why I'm back. I cannot Oh my god. Okay. Did she leave out the house and they left her in the house? No. I opened the door. The officer told me if she's here. I I respectfully said yes. And they told me if they can simply just talk to her and they did not talk to her. They brought her outside and immediately put the handcuffs on her. So there wasn't even no talk there. Yeah. There. Yeah. Cuz I Yeah, cuz I I told her to cuz I I just thought it was I didn't know what really was going on. I just thought it was a follow question. Well, ask your questions, Ron. Leave. What other question you have? That was the way they were going to have to call my grandma. You have another question? Yeah. I'm giving I'm awarding you the opportunity to ask a question. Okay. He's about to leave. Should I just let him go? You don't have a choice to let me go, man. Just watch him. I'm going to read her and everything. Yeah, I got you. Yeah. All right. Like I said, you're being arrested for theft. I need to talk to my fiance. I'm going to read this to you. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can't be used against you in court. You have the right to talk to a lawyer for advice before he asks you any questions and have them with you during questioning. If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be appointed for you before any questioning if you wish. If you decide to answer questions without a lawyer present, you will still have the right to stop answering at any time. You also have the right to stop answering at any time until you talk to a lawyer. Do you understand each of these rights I have explained to you? Yes or no? I need to talk to my fiance. It's a yes or a no. Do you understand your rights? Yes. With these rights in mind, you wish to speak to me? No. Like I said, you're being arrested for theft. Okay. Well, I need to talk to him before I go. Why is that? I just need to ask him a question. What's the question? I'll ask him. Um, if he called my lawyer. [Applause] All right. She wants to know if you called her lawyer. I was just on the phone. Okay. I was She just She's asking. Oh, she wants to know something like that. Yeah. He said something like that. Yeah. Can you bring him over here? I just like No, I'm not bringing him over here. But you did it last time with my grandma, so I'm not Correct. But I'm waiting for a female officer to search you, so I'm not bringing him over here. But I don't understand. I don't have to have I don't have to do that. That's That's the thing. Do you even have a written arrest? What? Do you have a written arrest? What does that mean? Like a uh like they allowed you to come and arrest. What does that mean? a written arrest. I don't I'm not understanding that. I have probable cause to arrest you if that's what you mean. What? I have probable cause to arrest you right now if that's what you mean. I just need to talk to my Okay. I'm going to start the UBS and wait for this officer. All right. Who's coming? They said I didn't hear. Okay. I'll see if it's on the computer and I can't say anything because that's all the judges. It's uh it's always case by case, but she got out last time, right? Yeah. So, so I don't I don't want to say something to you and then it's not true. So, that's all the judges. So, I mean, like you said, I don't want to say yeah, she'll get out and she doesn't cuz then I'd be lying. But if she got out last time and she doesn't have any other anything happening with anything. So I don't know. There might be a good chance, but who knows? Like I said, it's case by case. Yeah. So what what happened to her right now? So she's going to be booked into the Lee County Jail downtown Fort Myers. Um once she gets there, like I said, she'll either get a bond or she'll have to stay for a little bit, speak to a judge, and then it's the same process as she did the first time. Was she even get to talk to a judge today or I'm not sure. I'm not sure. Uh being that it's 12:30, I'm not sure if they'll have a later um sometimes proceeding or not. Yeah, cuz it is a Saturday, so I'm not sure. Yeah, I'm not sure what the their schedules are, but this is I'm just trying to be real with men. So, this is going to be our female officer. going to search her, make sure she doesn't have anything because we don't want her to take anything to the jail and get another charge. Um, once she gets searched, we're going to take her to the gym. Okay. All right. What's that? It they're they're in training, so that's all good. You can hop out. Just going to have a female search you and we'll go back inside. Okay. Yeah, back number two. How much? 200 and change. No conviction yet though, right? State can lump them. Yeah, state can make it a felony. He's what? Five. Five. And then I think Jones has a three. I'm sure you love that loss prevention so much. You know, they're they're not so bad. There are some that are good. Thank you. Thank you. Maybe we buy something for her. Why don't you tell her you're a fan? Oh my god. Oh god. Thank you. Thanks. He's going to be charged with a misdemeanor today. Yes. Oh, what does that mean? I'm sorry. It's uh So, it's a step down from a felony. So, it's under 700. Under 700? So is it so I know it's if it's above 700 it's a felony. It's above 750 it's a felony and it's if it's below it's it's a misdemeanor misdemeanor. Yeah. And how much they'll close their bond for that that that's even Yeah. That's even Yeah, that's up that's solely up to the judge. Yeah. Okay. I got Yeah, that's really case by case. So, so is there even a good chance that the judge will even look at our case? Once once again, we don't want to say yes or we don't want to say no. We don't want to make false promises. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I got you. Yeah. I mean, I'm sure she'll give you a call when as soon as she can. So, Yeah. Yeah. I'll be on I'll be on call. Yeah. I got you, man. Sorry, man. No. All good. I can only do what I can No. Yeah. You You're only doing your job. I 100%. I'm good. All right. Understand that. Uh, you good with the kids? Good. You good to watch the kids? Kids are with Oh, okay. All right. Sweet. All right. Good. Thanks. [Music]