TAMPA – The 24-year-old South Carolina man accused of trying to abduct WWE performer Daria Berenato from her Lutz home this past weekend will continue without bail, a judge ruled Thursday night.
Hillsborough Circuit Judge Catherine Catlin ruled that Phillip Thomas II was a threat to community safety and denied the defense’s motion to institute bail.
Thomas is accused of traveling more than 450 miles from South Carolina to the home of Berenato – who acted as WWE professional wrestling star Sonya Deville – to take her hostage early Sunday. Deputies say he had a knife and pepper spray.
Thomas is charged with aggravated stalking, armed burglary of a residence and attempted armed abduction. Prior to his arrest, investigators say he sent hundreds of messages to Berenato via social media – some of which were immediate threats of violence for her and her family.
Thomas was represented by Assistant Public Defender John Grant, who argued that Thomas’ bail should be set at $ 2 million – an amount he said his client could not pay – and that authorities could follow him with an electronic surveillance device.
“I see no way we can protect our community in Hillsborough County if we give him bail,” the judge said. ‘A GPS on him gives me no rest. A GPS monitor does nothing for me. ”
Thomas remains in the county jail. Thursday night’s hearing revealed additional details about the allegations against him. The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said the incident took place just after 2:30 p.m. Sunday.
Berenato, 26, testified that she was sleeping in her bedroom when she was awakened by the sound of her house alarm. She said she then sprinted to her guest room, where her friend slept, and wrote, “Please wake up, wake up please, wake up please.”
Berenato said she and her friend then jumped into the living room. That was when she saw a man in black clothes and a black coronavirus mask standing in her lanai outside a glass door, “just staring” at her.
“I was scared, I was screaming, ‘What are you doing here?'” Berenato said.
Thomas’ face was completely blank, she said, seemingly unrestrained by the blowing of her home alarm.
Then he started running towards her “without fear,” she said. Berenato said she then jumped to her friend’s car, which she was unable to start because she was in such a panic. After realizing that her foot was on the brake and not the gas, she said she left her house while calling 911.
In the days since, Berenato said she learned that Thomas sent hundreds of messages to her via social media channels. The messages, she said, included threats such as “surrendering” the heads of her parents to the front, and killing her sisters.
Berenato, who has hundreds of thousands of followers on social media, testified that she never saw the messages before the incident. They had gone into a spam folder.
The Sheriff’s Office, which took Thomas prisoner and arrested him at Berenato’s house, said he began planning the abduction eight months ago. The threatening messages started too much for that, prosecutors said, and did not stop until moments before the attack.
‘Hey dear, look outside. I’m at your pool, ‘said one message that was read aloud in court.
It was shipped just before the burglary.
