On Instagram, a reality-TV expat couple looks to be living their best South Florida lives, hanging at The Breakers in Palm Beach, dining in Miami’s Design District and shopping at Brickell City Centre.
Offline, things were not as they seem, authorities say.
According to a probable cause affidavit from the Boca Raton Police Department, Melany “Mel” Viljoen of “The Real Housewives of Pretoria,” and her husband Petrus “Peet” Viljoen, were arrested on Tuesday and held on $10,000 bond apiece.
The Boca-based South Africans were charged with aggravated grand retail theft of over $3,000. The victim? Publix.
The Viljoens are accused of shoplifting “multiple” items between August 2025 — a few months after moving to the area — and March 2026 at the Mercado Real store at 1001 S. Federal Hwy. Merchandise included wine, sparkling water, toilet paper, potatoes, beets and eggs, the complaint says.
Authorities launched an investigation Aug. 29 after surveillance footage showed the pair “ticket switching” — scanning lower-priced items, like “seasoning packets,” underneath more expensive ones — at the self-checkout lanes.
Now flagged as “suspicious” customers by the loss prevention team, the couple kept hitting up the location for months. As of March 8, the suspects were found to have failed to pay for 392 items in 52 transactions — for a total loss to Publix of $5,302.17, police say.
Melany, 39, later confessed after being shown in-store footage of the alleged incidents, telling police she was forced to steal “because she was ‘in survival mode’ and has not worked since coming to the U.S. due to not having a Visa.”
Peet, 57, confirmed their identities after seeing the same footage, but admitted no wrongdoing, adds the report, which lists both as “unemployed.”
According to “The South African,” a media outlet in their homeland, these two are no strangers to legal problems. It reports that the self-proclaimed “diamond nail specialist” and former lawyer (he was disbarred) are facing charges of fraud, racketeering and theft in “an ongoing investigation.”
A hearing on the matter is set for April 9.