WWE Star Sonya Deville Avoids Kidnapping After Obsessed Fan Breaks In

WWE star Sonya Deville’s most recent "very frightening" encounter wasn’t in the wrestling ring. Instead, it was in her own home when a man attempting to kidnap her broke into her Lutz, Florida residence.

Phillip A. Thomas, a South Carolina resident, was supposedly planning to kidnap Deville for more than eight months. He parked his car at a local church, walked to Deville’s house and cut a hole in her patio screen. He stayed there for three or four hours just listening through the window, local outlet WFLA reports.

He waited until the 26-year-old wrestler was asleep at 2:43 a.m. to open the back slider door, which set off the alarm. Deville (whose legal name is Daria Rae Berenato) could see someone on the property, so she got in her car with a guest and left while also calling 911.

Thomas was found inside the home, arrested and charged with aggravated stalking, armed burglary, attempted kidnapping, and criminal mischief. Thomas confirmed to the cops that he wanted to kidnap the WWE SmackDown star. He is said to have been carrying a knife, plastic zip ties, duct tape and mace.

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

Deville took to Twitter to assure fans that she is safe and thank the police department.

The Tampa Bay Times reports that Thomas, 24, has shown his obsession with Deville on Twitter. He also reached out to a psychiatrist on Aug. 8 to asking for advice on “something that could determine what happens next in my life.”

Just a couple weeks before the home invasion, Deville told International Business Times that she was enjoying getting to spend more time at home during the global health crisis.

“It’s obviously been kind of crazy for everybody, but it’s one of these things where the last five years of our lives have been on the road,” she said. “And we haven’t had much downtime or normalcy of a Monday through Friday or anything like that. So it’s been nice in a sense to be in our own homes instead of hotels.”