Detroit Lions cornerback Terrion Arnold was granted $1 million bail on Monday following charges of kidnapping and armed robbery. Authorities allege that Arnold, 23, orchestrated a plan to lure victims to an apartment under the pretense of sexual encounters.
According to testimony from Det. Scott Barnett of the Tampa Police Department, Arnold suspected his driver and the driver's hairdresser friend of stealing over $250,000 worth of property from him at an Airbnb on February 1. He then allegedly offered to pay his 18-year-old girlfriend, Ariana Del Valle, and her 19-year-old roommate, Jasmine Randazzo, to entice the suspected thieves to their apartment for a confrontation.
Text messages presented in court indicated Del Valle's communication with Randazzo about Arnold's alleged scheme. One message read, “They are trying to set him up and he’s trying to pay us for it.” Randazzo reportedly suggested deleting their text messages and stated she would obtain money, which she intended to give to her father.
The plan reportedly shifted to the apartment after a friend of Arnold's noted that a hotel would have too many cameras. Del Valle then allegedly suggested her apartment, as the hairdresser had visited before and knew its location.
On the night of February 3 and into the early morning of February 4, three associates of Arnold, armed with guns including an AR-15, allegedly pistol-whipped the hairdresser and two of his friends at the women's apartment. Del Valle reportedly used FaceTime to show the assault to Arnold and others in a car and communicated via text messages with one of Arnold's associates during the incident. She also expressed fear in a text to Randazzo, stating, “I’m scared. I hope they don’t kill them.”
Barnett testified that the victims, who had not actually stolen from Arnold, believed they were going to be killed and their bodies disposed of. The victims were eventually released and subsequently reported the incident to law enforcement.
Arnold has pleaded not guilty to the charges of kidnapping and robbery, offenses that carry a potential sentence of life imprisonment if convicted. Prosecutors had requested that he be held without bail. Arnold's attorney argued that there was insufficient proof of his client's direct involvement in the physical assault, identifying another co-defendant as the primary actor in the incident. However, prosecutors characterized Arnold as the "general manager" of the operation, essential to its initiation.
Randazzo and Del Valle have both pleaded guilty and are cooperating with the investigation into Arnold.