Hellcat Pistol Whips Friends While Boyfriend Robs Them in Trailer Park: Prosecutor

BRIDGEVIEW, IL -- A couple led police on a chase to Chicago in a stolen car after they pistol whipped and robbed their friends of $40, prosecutors said. Nicholas Somenzi, 29, and his 18-year-old girlfriend Tiffany Bronzell, appeared before Cook County Judge Kerry Kennedy. Each are facing felony counts of armed robbery and aggravated battery.

Somenzi and Bronzell had been staying with friends in Bridgeview in a trailer park in the 8800 block of South Harlem Avenue. On Aug. 21, the two drove with their 53-year-old male friend to a bank so Somenzi could withdraw money from an ATM. The prosecutor said the man used to date Bronzell’s mother. Somenzi was unable to withdraw money from his account due to insufficient funds, the older man drove them across the street to his own bank where he withdrew $40, the prosecutor said.

When they arrived back at the mobile home, the couple attacked the man and two other people in the household, the prosecutor said. One person was asleep in the living room. Bronzell allegedly pointed a gun, which was later turned out to be a BB gun, at her mother’s former boyfriend and demanded the $40 he had withdrawn from the bank. The prosecutor said Somenzi jumped on the man and tore his pants getting the man’s wallet and car keys.

After procuring the items, Bronzell hit the man with the gun, the prosecutor said. According to the charges, she proceeded to hit the person asleep in the living room and a third person who emerged from a bedroom to see what the ruckus was all about. Someone in the home called the Bridgeview police. When officers arrived, they saw Somenzi and Bronzell leaving in the man’s car, the prosecutor said.

Bridgeview officers chased the vehicle to Chicago, until the couple crashed it, the prosecutor said. Their friends, who had been putting the couple up, all suffered bruises and cuts from the purported pistol whipping. The 53-year-old man had a black eye, according to the allegations. Police said the defendants admitted on video to hitting their friends with a gun and robbing them.

Bail for Bronzell, of Frankfort, was set at $300,000; Somenzi, a Bridgeview resident, is being held on $350,000 bail. The couple both requested drug treatment in jail. Bronzell and Somenzi are both due back in court Sept. 18 in Bridgeview.