Florida woman visits an Orange Park Walmart for a bath mat. Then she realizes two men are allegedly following her through the aisles

A TikTok user shared a video describing a frightening encounter in which she says two men followed her through a Walmart store in Orange Park, Florida. Tasia, who posts under the handle @tasiaalexis, explained that her trip to the store turned scary when she became convinced strangers were trailing her, according to the Daily Dot. The trouble started when Tasia visited the Orange Park location to find a specific checkered bath mat that was missing from her local store.

She said she made the trip around 9:30 a.m., after dropping her children off at school. Shortly after walking in, she said she noticed a man whose behavior made her feel uncomfortable right away. She reportedly tried to continue shopping as planned, but soon noticed the man moving through the aisles behind her. Things took a turn for the worse when an apparent second man began following her, too. Tasia said she began weaving between aisles to shake them off.

She reportedly hoped her path would confuse them or allow her to slip away. At one point, she said, she found both men in a parallel aisle, talking to each other and looking at their phones. Seeing what looked like coordination made her even more nervous, as she became convinced the pair were apparently working together. She said one man later walked in front of her while the other passed behind her. She allegedly felt trapped in the store and needed a way to get out without drawing unwanted attention.

She thought the two men were working together

According to Tasia, she says she passed another woman along the way. However, she said she kept moving because she did not want to put that shopper in danger, too. Moments later, she reportedly found two male employees and asked them to walk her out, and she said she did not see the men again once the workers stepped in.

The employees reportedly escorted her to her car, and Tasia posted the video from home to warn anyone nearby. She also said she would never go to Walmart alone again. Her video had gone viral, with many people sharing their own concerns and safety suggestions.

One commenter wrote, “It’s a pretty common thing here in Jax unfortunately,” adding that local groups are fighting it, which seemed to point toward trafficking. Another suggested, “Ladies, stay weird. Stay loud. And make a MF scene,” arguing that bystanders are quicker to help when they know it is a stranger.

Viral trafficking warnings rarely match how the crime actually works

The nonprofit Polaris Project says sex trafficking rarely begins with a stranger kidnapping, as most victims are groomed by someone they know. Trafficking cases are real. However, viral warnings tied to Walmart have repeatedly fallen apart under scrutiny. In 2021, PolitiFact found no evidence that traffickers were using an empty car seat as a lure in a North Carolina Walmart parking lot, as police traced it to customers who had installed a new one.

None of that makes being followed harmless. Under Florida law, a person who willfully, maliciously, and repeatedly follows someone else commits stalking, a first-degree misdemeanor. The charge rises to aggravated stalking, a third-degree felony, when the person also makes a credible threat.

In her caption, Tasia urged other mothers not to head out alone with their babies and to rely on Walmart pickup in the future.

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