Sonya Deville Delivers Court Testimony In Stalking Case
Sonya Deville's attempted kidnapper will NOT be granted bail, thankfully.
Daria Berenato, better known as WWE wrestler Sonya Deville, appeared in court to testify in a stalking case yesterday. The case concerns Phillip A. Thomas II, a 24-year-old South Carolina man accused of trying to kidnap Berenato after breaking into her house earlier this week.
Thomas is accused of travelling over 400 miles from South Carolina to Berenato's home in Tampa, Florida, breaking into her house at 2:30 am armed with pepper spray, zipties, and duct tape. According to prosecutors, he intended to kidnap her. The prosecutors showed surveillance video from inside Berenato's house showing Thomas breaking and entering.
Thomas later said that his intention was to hold her hostage by binding her with the zipties and tape. He faces charges of aggravated stalking, armed burglary of a dwelling and attempted armed kidnapping.
Prosecutors also accused Thomas of sending Berenato hundreds of threatening messages via two separate Instagram accounts. Berenato did not realize he'd sent her these messages before Thomas was arrested, since she did not follow him.
After Berenato delivered her testimony, Hillsborough Circuit Judge Catherine Catlin found that Thomas to be a threat to the safety of the community and denied his defense’s motion to set bail at $2 million.