{"id":522894,"date":"2026-03-14T09:26:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T09:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/522894\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T09:26:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T09:26:11","slug":"real-housewives-couple-arrested-for-allegedly-stealing-thousands-in-sparkling-water-and-publix-groceries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/522894\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Real Housewives\u2019 couple arrested for allegedly stealing thousands in sparkling water and Publix groceries"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A<\/p>\n

A three-photo collage of Melany and Petrus Viljoen.<\/p>\n

Stars of \u201cThe Real Housewives of Pretoria\u201d \u2014 a South African installment of the beloved franchise \u2014 have been arrested for allegedly stealing thousands of dollars\u2019 worth of groceries from a Florida Publix.<\/p>\n

Melany Viljoen, 39, and Petrus Viljoen, 57, were taken into custody by Boca Raton police on Wednesday and charged with aggravated grand retail theft<\/a> over $3,000, according to arrest records obtained by Page Six. Both are being held on a $10,000 bond.<\/p>\n

The South African reality stars, who were part of the original cast of \u201cThe Real Housewives of Pretoria\u201d when it premiered in 2022, were arrested during a traffic stop while driving their Range Rover.<\/p>\n

\"\u201cThe<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Real Housewives of Pretoria\u201d star Melany Viljoen was arrested for allegedly stealing thousands of dollars\u2019 worth of items from a Publix. Palm Beach County Sheriff Office<\/p>\n

\"Melany<\/p>\n

Melany and her husband, Petrus Viljoen, were taken into custody by Boca Raton police on Wednesday and charged with aggravated grand retail theft over $3,000. Palm Beach County Sheriff Office<\/p>\n

Boca Raton authorities first launched a six-month retail theft investigation on Aug. 29 after a \u201cwhite male and female\u201d were caught on CCTV footage entering the Publix and \u201cticket switching,\u201d according to the arrest records.<\/p>\n

According to the Boca Raton Police Department, ticket switching refers to a form of shoplifting \u201cwhere a price tag or UPC barcode from a less expensive item is placed onto a more expensive item to pay a lower price.\u201d<\/p>\n

Melany and Petrus were also allegedly caught on security footage leaving the supermarket with carts full of expensive items after skipping the self-checkout lane<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The South African reality stars were part of the original cast of \u201cThe Real Housewives of Pretoria\u201d when it premiered in 2022. kyknettv<\/p>\n

\"Melany<\/p>\n

Melany (second from right) and her husband were caught on CCTV footage going into the Publix and \u201cticket switching,\u201d per their arrest records. kiki.lacoco\/instagram<\/p>\n

The embattled reality personalities are accused of stealing a total of 392 items across 52 transactions between August 2025 and March 2026.<\/p>\n

Items reported stolen during the couple\u2019s alleged six-month shoplifting spree included two cases of Maison Perrier Forever Lime Sparkling Water at $16.39 each, one case of San Pellegrino Mineral Water at $23.99 and two bottles of La Marca Prosecco Sparkling Wine at $34.99 each.<\/p>\n

Other stolen merchandise included toilet paper, soda, produce and more groceries.<\/p>\n

According to Melany\u2019s arrest record, she admitted she and Petrus were the ones in the security footage obtained by investigators.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The embattled reality stars (seen here in September 2024) are accused of stealing a total of 392 items across 52 transactions between August 2025 and March 2026. peetviljoen_law\/instagram<\/p>\n

\"Melany<\/p>\n

Melany and Petrus (pictured here in March 2023) allegedly stole $5,300 worth of sparkling water, wine, toilet paper, soda, produce and other groceries. peetviljoen_law\/instagram<\/p>\n

However, the \u201cReal Housewives of Pretoria\u201d alum also told police that \u201cshe was the only one committing the crime\u201d and her husband \u201chad nothing to do with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although Melany admitted to stealing $5,300 worth of items from the Boca Raton Publix, she told police she had no choice because she was in \u201csurvival mode\u201d and \u201chas not worked since coming to the US\u201d without a visa, per her arrest record.<\/p>\n

The couple\u2019s case remains under investigation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A three-photo collage of Melany and Petrus Viljoen. Stars of \u201cThe Real Housewives of Pretoria\u201d \u2014 a South…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":522895,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[235748,235746,88,235744,235747,235745,38066,879,5658,235749,92],"class_list":["post-522894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-arrest-record","tag-arrest-records","tag-entertainment","tag-melany-viljoen","tag-palm-beach-county-sheriff-office","tag-petrus-viljoen","tag-publix","tag-real-housewives","tag-reality-stars","tag-retail-theft","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=522894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/522895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=522894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=522894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=522894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}