TikTok vigilante rallies community against thieves

(FOX 9) - A TikTok video has gone viral to help catch a thief. 

Jaclyn Wipper owns the Squirrelly Mama Boutique in Cross Lake. Earlier this month she noticed a shirt that was missing from her store.  

Surveillance video appeared to show a woman stuffing a shirt into her purse. 

She posted the video to TikTok not knowing if it would help or not.  

"I decided to make a video, but I didn’t realize the impact it was gonna have," Wipper said. 

Squirrelly Mama Boutique owner Jaclyn Wipper

With 800,000 views and about 2,000 shares, a TikTok viewer identified the woman.  

The suspect was cited by Cross Lake police for theft, and was given trespass warnings for three different businesses; but there are three other businesses outside the Cross Lake area that were also allegedly hit. 

While Wipper’s glad the suspect was caught, she says the real story is how her social media post brought the community closer.  

"It really kind of made a movement up here of what one small video, one small social media thing, can do to bring a community together and say we’re united and we’re not going to have this," she said.

Wipper says she met other business owners she never knew and residents were supportive of the small businesses impacted. 

She says she’s not an avid TikTok user, but between merchandise sales and new friends, that soon may change.