A Utah woman shared a story on TikTok about how she and her husband were accused of stealing thousands of dollars’ worth of merchandise from a Shopko store, an incident she says happened about ten years ago. The video was posted by a TikTok user going by Caitlynne, who runs the account @ladylionhair. Her bio describes her as a salon owner with an interest in lifestyle and beauty content. According to her TikTok profile, Caitlynne has built an audience of 1,836 followers and has received 97.4K likes across her videos. In this particular video, she said the ordeal started with a strange automated phone call while she and her husband, John Garner, were driving. Caitlynne said the automated call identified itself as coming from the “West Valley Sheriff’s Department” and asked for John Garner to call back right away. She said they assumed it was a scam and hung up. When the same call came in again, she said she dismissed it a second time. Detective said the couple was caught on camera at a Shopko store Soon after, Caitlynne said John’s sister called from his parents’ house, saying officers from the “Sandy City Police Department” were there looking for him. She said she told them to call the Sandy City or West Valley City Sheriff’s Department immediately and to come home right away. She said they were too far away to get there quickly. @ladylionhair a story time I still can’t believe happened to us. #utahmom #momlifebelike #husbandandwife #parents #utahliving ♬ original sound – caitlynne She said John called the number his sister gave him and reached a detective from the West Valley Police Department. According to Caitlynne, the detective told her husband, “because we saw you, we, we caught you on camera stealing over $3,000 worth of product from Shopko in West Valley.” Caitlynne said the accusation made no sense for her family. She said they never shopped at that Shopko, never went to West Valley, and did not shoplift. She said her husband denied the accusation, but the detective continued describing details that matched the couple, including their silver Subaru Outback and their license plate number. The detective also apparently described John as 6’2″ with blonde hair and his wife as 5’9″ with red hair, and said she was with him at the time. She said John confirmed those physical details were accurate but said the incident described did not happen. Caitlynne said when he asked when the theft occurred, the detective said it happened on a Friday night. John told the detective he could prove he was not in the area that night. He said he was in St. George, Utah, and had hotel reservations, restaurant receipts, and credit card statements to back up his claim. She said the detective did not accept this and repeated that they had footage of the car and a matching license plate. At that point, she said they were driving through Beaver City on their way home. Caitlynne said the detective asked John to pull over and check his license plates. She said the front plate matched what they had always had, but the back plate did not match. The detective told them it appeared someone had swapped their plates. Other Utah residents have described similarly unsettling discoveries involving law enforcement items, including a woman’s encounter with a threatening police-related token. Caitlynne said someone had apparently followed her and her husband, stolen a Subaru matching theirs, and used a stolen license plate from that vehicle. She said the person then shoplifted from the Shopko in West Valley and placed the stolen plate on the back of her family’s car. She said this made it look like she and her husband were responsible for the theft. She said the detective told them that because the car had been reported stolen, they could have been pulled over at gunpoint if they had not stopped when they did. Caitlynne said she was not certain how often that kind of stop happens but noted the detective raised it as a serious possibility. She said the detective then instructed the couple to remove the mismatched back plate and replace it with their front plate. Caitlynne said they pulled over on the side of the road to make the switch while friends who were riding with them watched. She said their friends were shocked by what was unfolding. After returning home, she said they went in to make an official statement clarifying they were not involved in the theft. License plates have played a central role in other unexpected roadside stories as well, including a driver noticing her plate linked to a missing person alert. Caitlynne said she also had to pay to replace her stolen registration and license plates. She described the entire situation as frustrating. She ended the video by saying, “Someone framed us for shoplifting at the West Valley Shopko. Happy Memorial Day.” The video has drawn attention from viewers responding to the strange sequence of events, from the fake-sounding phone calls to the license plate switch. Caitlynne’s account has not been independently verified by law enforcement records referenced in the video. One commenter joked about the effort involved in the scheme, writing, “Maybe I’m just lazy, but that sounds like a lot of work for just $3,000 worth of stuff.” Another added a lighthearted take on how they might have reacted in the same situation, saying, “My dumb**s would have went on the run for funzies.” A different viewer was surprised by how long ago the incident happened, commenting, “I think the most shocking part of this story is the fact that you said ’10 years ago’. I thought you were like mid-late 20s max????????” Another commenter shared a related experience with a stolen license plate, writing, “I had my plate taken in my driveway. I reported it with 24 hours. They gave me a paper to carry until I could register my car. they said if you get pulled over, it may be hostile so keep that in mind. Lucky for me, within 2 days my plate was retrieve. I pick them up at the station and I just put it back on with metal bolts.”