IG: @ReezyTyler

After fleeing their financial and legal obligations in South Africa, Mel and Peet Viljoen have been arrested in the US for aggravated grand retail theft charges. Reality TV couple Melany Viljoen (39) and Petrus “Peet” Viljoen (57), featured on Real Housewives of Pretoria were arrested in Boca Raton, Florida on 10 March 2026. Police say they ran a 6-month “ticket-switching” theft scheme at a Publix, stealing $5,302 in groceries across 52 transactions (Aug 2025–Mar 2026). Investigators say 392 items went unscanned, often by scanning cheap seasoning packets while bagging expensive goods. CCTV allegedly shows Peet distracting staff while Melany used self-checkout. Melany told police she acted alone and was in “survival mode” without a U.S. work visa, but investigators say footage shows both involved. Both face aggravated grand retail theft charges under Florida law.

“It’s improper for there to be racist laws in South Africa. The whole idea with what Nelson Mandela, who was a great man, proposed, was that all races should be on an equal footing in South Africa. That’s the right thing to do. Not to replace one set of racist laws with another set of racist laws, which is utterly wrong and improper. And so now I’m in this absurd situation where I was born in South Africa but cannot get a license to operate Starlink because I’m not black” -Elon Musk