A Florida woman was arrested for starting a wild brawl that involved several hundred people at a skating rink after a birthday party for her teenage daughter was canceled.
Stephanie Pedroso, 36, was arrested this week and charged with inciting a riot. She was also charged with unlawful use of a two-way communications device in connection with the insane fight that took place.
It all went down back in May when the owner of Astro Skate in Brandon, Florida, Chris Maganias, caught wind of fliers that were being posted online advertising booty contests for what was supposed to be a birthday party for little kids. He wanted no part of that kind of event.
Those fliers weren’t approved by the skating rink, giving them reason number one needed to cancel the party. The woman also broke the rink’s rules by reselling tickets to the party and not hiring the required security. So the party was canceled, and the owner offered the woman her money back.
On May 17, according to Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister, Pedroso was called and told that she couldn’t host the party at the skating rink because she hadn’t fulfilled her end of a contract that required her to hire two off-duty deputies to serve as security for the event.
Starting A Riot Because A Birthday Party At A Skating Rink Was Canceled Sounds Like A Slight Overreaction
Despite the cancelation of the party, the mom is accused of going on social media and encouraging people to show up anyway. Naturally, why would she respect the fact that they had put an end to the booty contest birthday party?
She then, seeing no reason to do otherwise, showed up at Astro Skate as if the party was going to take place anyway. She had solved the security problem. She and a friend were wearing t-shirts that had the word “Security” on them.
Employees refused to allow her to enter and that’s when she asked her followers to riot. Chronister said that Pedroso even claimed at one point to have money to pay people to “riot and cause destruction.”
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office estimates that 400-500 people were there when the fight broke out. The crazy scene reportedly resulted in damage to several nearby businesses.
It took responding officers almost six hours to get things under control. When the dust kicked up by the melee had finally settled, 23 juveniles and three adults were arrested and a total of five businesses sustained damage.
In other words, a completely reasonable response to a birthday party being canceled. Rather than making other arrangements, why not spend the time set aside for a party engaged in a wild brawl?
If mom was going for a birthday for her daughter that she would never forget, she delivered big time on that. We’re talking about mom of the year nominee level on that.
