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NY Post
New York Post
3 May 2023


NextImg:Man sentenced to 15 years for plotting to kidnap WWE star Sonya Deville

A South Carolina man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for stalking and attempting to kidnap WWE star Sonya Deville.

Phillip A. Thomas II entered a guilty plea on Tuesday for attempted kidnapping, aggravated stalking and armed burglary charges, according to TMZ.

In addition to the prison time, Thomas will also have 15 years’ probation following the term.

In 2020, Thomas was arrested for breaking into Deville’s home in Florida.

The man was said to have had a “disturbing obsession” with the WWE star, and planned for eight months to kidnap her, traveling from South Carolina to Florida in an attempt to carry it out.

Deville, now 29, and a guest in her home realized there was an intruder when Thomas broke through a back sliding door and triggered the alarm system.

Officers found Thomas with a knife, duct tape, mace and plastic zip ties.

WWE star Sonya Deville
Getty Images for GLAAD

Phillip Thomas will be jailed for 15 years for stalking and plotting to kidnap WWE star Sonya Deville.

Phillip Thomas will be jailed for 15 years for stalking and plotting to kidnap WWE star Sonya Deville.
Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office

They said that he had laid in wait for four hours for Deville to go to bed after cutting through a screen.

“Our deputies are unveiling the suspect’s disturbing obsession with this homeowner who he had never met, but stalked on social media for years,” Chad Chronister, Hillsborough County Sheriff said in a statement at the time.

“It’s frightening to think of all the ways this incident could have played out had the home alarm not gone off and alerted the homeowner of an intruder.”

Prosecutors said Thomas had sent Deville threatening messages on social media in the months leading up to the break-in.

Phillip Thomas was arrested in 2020.

Phillip Thomas was arrested in 2020.
Florida DOC

Sonya Deville inside a WWE ring in Germany on Nov. 1, 2022.

Sonya Deville inside a WWE ring in Germany on Nov. 1, 2022.
Getty Images

Deville, whose real name is Daria Rae Berenato, was arrested for unlawful gun possession in Atlantic City earlier this year.

A source close to the wrestler told The Post that Deville began carrying the firearm after the stalking incident, and that she was licensed for it in Florida but not New Jersey.