‘I came from Palestine’: A woman accused of shoplifting at an Illinois Walmart told officers ‘don’t touch,’ then refused to turn around

A woman accused of shoplifting at a Peoria, Illinois, Walmart was arrested after staff recognized her from an earlier incident, and bodycam footage of the encounter has spread online. According to posts on X and Vidmax, officers confronted her at the store, and she requested a woman officer while saying she is Muslim. None of the details below has been independently verified.

In the clip, an officer says store staff knew her from an earlier visit, and she objects to men touching her during the arrest. The Vidmax page says she told officers, “don’t touch,” then refused to turn around when asked. An X post by user Majda Al-haddad says she shouted, “I came from Palestine.”

Vidmax says she was stopped leaving with about $139 worth of goods and had an earlier theft on record. The page was posted by a user and does not link to the original footage, a police release or a news report. No police statement or independent coverage confirming this has been found.

What Illinois law says about repeat retail theft

Illinois defines retail theft under 720 ILCS 5/16-25. Under the statute, goods worth up to $300 make a Class A misdemeanor, and anything higher is a Class 3 felony. The statute measures that line by the full retail value of the merchandise taken. The reported figure of about $139 would sit in the lower tier on its own.

Earlier visits could change that. Vidmax says officers noted a prior theft worth hundreds of dollars at the same store. Prosecutors can add up separate thefts by the same person when they form a continuing course of conduct. The statute allows this across one or more stores over a period of one year.

If an earlier theft falls inside that window and the combined value passes $300, the charge can rise to a Class 3 felony. A prior theft conviction can also lift an otherwise minor offense of $300 or less to a Class 4 felony. Each class carries its own penalties, which the state sentencing code sets separately. A Class A misdemeanor means a jail term of less than one year and a fine of up to $2,500. A Class 4 felony carries one to three years in prison, and a Class 3 felony carries two to five years.

None of the accounts says which class of charge she faces or whether she has any theft conviction. An arrest is not a conviction, and nothing in the posts reflects a court finding. Courts weigh the full record rather than a short clip, a point also raised when video showed a Tempe officer pushing an ASU student and police described a different sequence.