A Detroit Lions cornerback has been implicated in a plot to impose “vigilante justice” on a chauffeur and two other people he suspected of burglarizing the Airbnb in Florida where he had been staying, according to court records.
Terrion Arnold is not charged with a crime, but his friend Boakai Eugene Hilton was the brains behind the alleged scheme, Hillsborough County Circuit Court Judge J. Logan Murphy wrote in a seven-page order filed Tuesday.
“Hilton appears to be the quarterback calling the play,” Murphy wrote. “Hilton orchestrates the ambush.”
Murphy then granted state’s motion for the pretrial detention of Hilton on three charges of kidnapping to harm or terrorize and three charges of robbery with a firearm. Each is a first-degree felony punishable by life in prison under Florida law.
Hilton, 23, was arrested on Feb. 17 and was being held Friday at the Hillsborough County Jail, according to a search of jail records. It was unclear if Hilton had legal representation.
Arnold, 22, was the Lions’ first-round draft pick in 2024 NFL draft and was signed that year to a four-year contract worth $14.34 million. His jersey number was zero during his rookie year.
Representatives for Arnold and the Detroit Lions did not immediately respond to NBC News requests for comment.
In a statement to TMZ, Arnold’s lawyer denied any wrongdoing.
“He did not participate in, nor was he present for, any conduct related to the alleged offenses,” the statement said. “There is no evidence in police reports, text messages, or witness statements that implicates Mr. Arnold in any way.”
Murphy, in his order, wrote that Arnold had hired a chauffeur to drive him and his friends to and from the Airbnb he had rented in Largo, a small city north of St. Petersburg, Florida.
The chauffeur, who makes his living driving celebrities around the Tampa Bay area, introduced a friend who aspired to be a “celebrity barber” to Arnold.
The order doesn’t state precisely when Arnold rented the residence, but it states that during the period he and his friends were staying there it was robbed twice. Among the items taken were $100,000 in cash, an $80,000 necklace, designer bags and a cell phone issued to Arnold by the NFL, the order states.
The Detroit News reported that Arnold filed a police report on Feb. 3 with the Largo Police Department. NBC News has reached out to that police department for confirmation.
“Through a series of events Arnold began to suspect that (the chauffeur) may have had a hand in the burglaries,” the judge wrote. “And though they had reported the theft to Largo authorities, Arnold and his friends decided to take matters in their own hands.”
Murphy wrote that Hilton allegedly orchestrated the scheme to get the stolen property back through text messages and a group chat, asking Arnold’s 18-year-old girlfriend Arianna Del Valle to video the encounter on FaceTime so he could see and hear what was happening.
Text messages, the judge wrote, also showed Arnold’s girlfriend urging another woman named Jasmine Randazzo to “act as bait” and lure the barber to her Tampa apartment. The girlfriend told the woman that Arnold and his friends would pay her “for doing so.”
When the barber arrived at the Tampa apartment with a friend, the chauffeur waited outside in a car, the order states.
Arnold’s girlfriend was there along with two other friends of the football player “who were armed with a rifle and handgun,” the judge wrote.
Murphy identified the men as Lyndell Hudson and Christion Williams.
The barber and his friend, the judge wrote, were interrogated, beaten, and pistol-whipped “for a better part of an hour,” the judge wrote.
Meanwhile, teh chauffeur “became suspicious and walked up to the apartment,” the judge wrote. “When he entered, he was pistol-whipped in the back of the head and taken to the bedroom with the other victims.”
There, one of Arnold’s friends allegedly “stuck the barrel of his firearm” into the chauffeur’s mouth and demanded that he return the stolen property, the judge wrote.
“Before the victims left, the co-defendants took their phones and wallets,” the judge wrote. “This was all done ostensibly to get (the men) to admit that they stole the property from the AirBNB, which they never do. Indeed, there is no evidence that any of the victims are involved in the theft.”
Hudson, 25, and Williams, 24, are currently being held at the Hillsborough County Jail. Both are charged with armed robbery and kidnapping, jail records show. It was unclear if they had legal representation.
Del Valle and Randazzo, who is 19, were also charged with armed robbery and kidnapping. They too were incarcerated in the county jail and it was also unclear if they had legal representation.
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