A 36-year-old Central Florida woman was arrested for inciting a riot following violence that took place outside Astro Skate in May.
On Saturday, May 18th, at 9:20pm, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office Communications Center received a call from an off-duty HCSO deputy that a large crowd of 500 people had shown up to Astro Skate in Brandon, near Tampa, where several violent fights had broken out.
With further investigation, deputies have now arrested 36-year-old Stephanie Pedroso for her part in inciting the violence that took place that night.
Detectives found that Pedroso had initiated a contract with Astro Skate on May 14, 2024, to host an “after-hours birthday party” for her daughter. She shared the event on her daughter’s social media, which gained considerable attention and hundreds of likes.
In breach of the Astro Skate contract, she failed to secure the required off-duty deputies for the after-hours party. Due to the failure to meet the contract requirements, Astro Skate canceled the reservation on May 17, 2024. Pedroso was issued a refund.
That’s when Pedroso used her daughter’s social media to make a live video encouraging friends to show up to inflict violence in the community, which included many of the businesses around Astro Skate.
In the Instagram live video stream, Pedroso could be heard making multiple violent and vulgar statements as well as numerous racial slurs.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office have provided several of those statements:
- “For y’all, if y’all still go up there, tear the fuck out of them. I’ve got some money for y’all, and I’ll pay y’all ass.”
- “I hope everybody still show up and tear this bitch up tomorrow.”
- “Make them crackers work.”
- “Stress them the fuck out.”
- “Fuck that, we should still go to Astro.”
In response to the comments on the live video, the following statements could also be heard:
- “They said, they still going.”
- “They said they finna protest at Astro and still go and terrorize it.”
Once on scene, it took deputies nearly six hours to contain the behavior that led to one injury and five local businesses sustaining damage. Deputies arrested 23 juveniles and three adults for the escalation of the chaos at the scene.
“Using social media to weaponize our youth is absolutely deplorable,” said Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister. “As a parent, I cannot fathom what went through this woman’s mind when she put lives at risk to provoke this mayhem.”
Pedroso was booked on charges of Inciting a Riot, Unlawful Use of a Two-Way Communication Device, and Driving with License Suspended, Canceled, or Revoked (3rd Offense). Deputies also arrested Pedroso’s husband, 38-year-old James Knight II, on an unrelated charge of Driving with License Suspended, Canceled, or Revoked (3rd Offense).
“I want to be clear: using social media to encourage people to riot and destroy businesses is completely unacceptable, and we will not tolerate that here in Hillsborough County,” said Sheriff Chronister. “This serves as a stark reminder of how quickly situations can spiral out of control and show the importance of responsible behavior and the consequences of inciting violence.”
