According to court documents, the Detroit Lions cornerback is involved in a plot to impose “vigilante justice” on a driver and two others suspected of robbing an Airbnb in Florida.
Terrian Arnold has not been charged with a crime, but his friend Bokai Eugene Hilton was the mastermind 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 organizes an ambush.”
Murphy later granted Hilton a state plea for pretrial detention on three counts of kidnapping and three counts of robbery with a firearm. Each is a first-degree felony, punishable by life in prison under Florida law.
Hilton, 23, was arrested Feb. 17 and was being held in the Hillsborough County Jail on Friday, according to a search of jail records. It’s unclear if Hilton has legal representation.
Arnold, 22, was the Lions’ first-round draft pick in the 2024 NFL Draft and signed a four-year deal worth $14.34 million that year. His jersey number was zero during his freshman 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 at, any conduct related to the alleged crimes,” the statement said. “There is no evidence in police reports, text messages or witness statements that implicate Mr. Arnold in any way.”
Murphy, in his order, wrote that Arnold hired a driver to drive him and his friends to an Airbnb they were renting in Largo, a small city north of St. Petersburg, Florida.
A driver who makes his living driving celebrities around the Tampa Bay area, Arnold was introduced to a friend who wanted him to be a “celebrity barber.”
The order doesn’t say exactly when Arnold rented the residence, but it says he and his friends were robbed twice during their stay there. Items taken included $100,000 in cash, an $80,000 necklace, designer bags and a cell phone issued to Arnold by the NFL, the order states.
Arnold filed a police report with the Largo Police Department on Feb. 3, the Detroit News reported. NBC News has reached out to that police department for confirmation.
“Through a series of events Arnold began to suspect that (the driver) was involved in the theft,” the judge wrote. “And although they reported the theft to Largo authorities, Arnold and his friends decided to take matters into their own hands.”
Murphy wrote that Hilton allegedly planned to retrieve the stolen property through text messages and a group chat, asking Arnold’s 18-year-old girlfriend, Arianna Del Valle, to video the encounter on FaceTime so she could see and hear what was going on.
The text messages, written by the judge, showed Arnold’s girlfriend urging another woman, Jasmine Randazzo, to “act as a decoy” and lure the barber to her Tampa apartment. The girlfriend told the woman that Arnold and his friends would pay her to “do that.”
When Barber arrived at the Tampa apartment with his friend, the driver was waiting outside in a car, the warrant said.
Arnold’s girlfriend, along with two other friends of the football player, were “armed with a rifle and a handgun,” the judge wrote.
Murphy identified the men as Lyndell Hudson and Krishan Williams.
Barber and his friend, the judge wrote, were interrogated, beaten and pistol-whipped for “the better part of an hour,” the judge wrote.
Meanwhile, teh driver “became suspicious and went to the apartment,” the judge wrote. “When he entered, he was pistol whipped to the back of the head and led into a bedroom with the other victims.”
There, one of Arnold’s friends “stuck the barrel of his gun into the driver’s mouth” and demanded the return of the stolen property, the judge wrote.
“Before the victims left, the co-defendants took their phones and wallets,” the judge wrote. “This is all ostensibly to get (the men) to admit to stealing property from Airbnb, which they never do. In fact, there is no evidence that any of the victims were involved in the theft.”
Hudson, 25, and Williams, 24, are currently being held in the Hillsborough County Jail. Both are charged with armed robbery and kidnapping, jail records show. It is not clear whether they have legal representation.
Del Valle and 19-year-old Randazzo were also charged with armed robbery and kidnapping. He was also held at the county jail and it was unclear whether he had legal representation.
