Detroit Lions cornerback Terrion Arnold has been linked to an alleged armed robbery and kidnapping incident earlier this month in Tampa, Fla., after the Airbnb he had rented nearby was burglarized twice, according to Hillsborough County Circuit Court records. News of the incident was first reported by WVTV Fox 13 Tampa Bay.
Arnold’s name appeared Tuesday in a court order from Judge J. Logan Murphy granting the state’s request to hold Boakai Eugene Hilton, 23, without bond. Hilton faces three counts of kidnapping to harm or terrorize and three counts of robbery with a firearm, all first-degree felonies punishable by life in prison. He pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors accuse Hilton of planning the kidnapping and robbery of three people while with Arnold, in retaliation for the thefts at Arnold’s rental in Largo, Fla.
“Arnold and his friends decided to take matters into their own hands,” Murphy wrote in the seven-page court order. “Rather than allowing law enforcement to investigate and retrieve the stolen property, the co-defendants sought vigilante justice by kidnapping the victims for over an hour, interrogating them, beating them, and threatening them with a gun barrel in the mouth.”
Murphy wrote that Arnold suspected his hired private driver, Yan Lopez, was involved in the two burglaries at the Airbnb, which resulted in the loss of $100,000 in cash, an $80,000 necklace, designer bags and an NFL-issued cellphone. The judge said text messages show Hilton “orchestrates the ambush” while traveling with Arnold back from Tallahassee, Fla.
Online court and police records indicate Arnold, 22, has not been arrested or charged by authorities.
“To be clear, Mr. Arnold had no involvement whatsoever in the activities that led to those arrests,” R. Timothy Jansen, a lawyer for Arnold, said in a statement released Friday. “He did not participate in, nor was he present for, any conduct related to the alleged offenses. There is no evidence in police reports, text messages, or witness statements that implicates Mr. Arnold in any way.”
On Thursday, the Lions told The Athletic that they could not comment on an ongoing legal matter. Arnold, a 2024 first-round pick out of Alabama, has started 22 of 24 games for Detroit.
On Friday, a spokesperson with the Largo Police Department told The Athletic on a phone call that Arnold called the police station at 10 p.m. Feb. 3 to file a police report on the stolen money and items. Two hours later, the alleged robbery and kidnapping of Daniel Tenesaca, Soljah Anderson and Lopez happened on Feb. 4 in Tampa. According to the court order, text messages show Arnold’s girlfriend, Arianna Del Valle, instructed Jasmine Randazzo to lure Tenesaca to her apartment and “act as bait” after he expressed romantic interest in her, with the promise that Arnold and his friends would pay Randazzo for helping. (In his statement, Arnold’s lawyer said the court order incorrectly identified Del Valle as Arnold’s girlfriend.)
Tenesaca, Anderson and Lopez arrived at the apartment, but Lopez stayed in the car while the other two went to the third floor. Del Valle let them inside and told them that Randazzo wasn’t home. When Tenesaca began looking around the apartment, he opened a bedroom closet and was confronted at gunpoint by Lyndell Hudson and Christion Williams, who were armed with an AR-style rifle and a semiautomatic handgun, according to court documents.
“They took Tenesaca and Anderson hostage in the bedroom, interrogating, beating, and pistol-whipping them for the better part of an hour,” Murphy wrote. Lopez, growing suspicious, eventually approached the apartment. Hearing the commotion, he entered and was pistol-whipped in the back of the head before being taken to the bedroom with the others, the court documents state.
Court records say Del Valle used FaceTime to broadcast the incident. Randazzo and Hilton joined to “watch and direct actions against the victims,” according to court documents. Hilton allegedly instructed Del Valle to move the camera closer so he could see and hear what was happening and told her he was 20 minutes away.
“One of the co-defendants stuck the barrel of his firearm into Lopez’s mouth, demanding he return the stolen property and Arnold’s phone,” Murphy wrote. “Before the victims left, the co-defendants took their phones and wallets. This was all done ostensibly to get Lopez, Tenesaca, and Anderson 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.”
Del Valle, 18, Randazzo, 19, Hudson, 25, and Williams, 24, have also been arrested and charged with armed robbery and kidnapping. They all remained in jail as of Friday morning, according to Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office records.
“Given the consistent accounts from the three victims and the two text message chains introduced into evidence, the weight of the evidence against Hilton is overwhelming,” Murphy wrote. “Because the evidence shows that he knows the victims and that others who have not been arrested were likely involved in the plot, the risk of harm and intimidation to the victims and any witnesses is high, and I find there is a significant probability that they would encounter harm if Hilton is granted pretrial release.”
Lions reporter Colton Pouncy contributed to this report.