REVEALED: How Peet and Mel Viljoen allegedly managed to shoplift over R87K worth of goods in the US

Peet and Melany Viljoen of Tammy Taylor fame. Picture: Facebook New details have emerged, alleging howReal Housewives of Pretoriastar Mel Viljoen and her husband, Peet, went on a crime spree in America. The Viljoens, whofled South Africa last yearamid fraud accusations and a disbarment hanging over their heads, werereportedly arrested this week after shoplifting goodsworth more than $5 300 (about R87 800).

A police report detailing their alleged crimes has since circulated online. According to the report, investigators began probing a pattern of retail theft at a Publix store located at 1001 S Federal Highway after a data analyst flagged suspicious transactions at the store’s self-checkout lanes. The analyst, Dominic Raia, identified multiple purchases involving the same debit or credit card repeatedly scanning seasoning items, a tactic being used to obscure more expensive goods that were not being scanned at all.

The report states that investigators were looking into “potential tag switching activity involving sales of items from the dry seasoning family group through proprietary software,” during which “multiple suspicious transactions were identified at the Self-Checkout lanes at Publix Store #600.” These transactions consistently involved the same payment card purchasing of seasoning items, which raised immediate red flags. When CCTV footage was pulled, it told a damning story. Investigators observed the pair “scanning various assorted items as seasoning packets across numerous transactions by holding seasoning packets under assorted items,” a method that “resulted in the suspects failing to scan numerous items and Publix Store #600 incurring a loss.” The scheme, which began on 29 August 2025, also involved what is known as ticket switching, removing price tags or barcodes from cheaper items and placing them on more expensive ones before scanning.