Steven Edwin Wiley and Cheryl Ann Pyle faced assault charges related to an encounter with a utility worker, only months after a video of the couple hurling racial slurs and chasing a door-to-door solar canvasser down their street went viral on TikTok. State Attorney Monique Worrell planned a news conference about the case.
The confrontation unfolded on July 29, 2025, when Antavis Tyrone Johnson, a door-to-door solar utility worker, knocked on Wiley and Pyle's home on Abberton Court in an Orange County neighborhood to sell solar panels, according to Fox 35 Orlando. Instead of a routine sales pitch, Johnson says the couple responded with racial slurs, including a threat that they were going to hang him, and then chased him down the street as he recorded the entire episode on his phone. That footage later spread widely on TikTok, as reported by WKMG ClickOrlando.
The Complaint
Wiley and Pyle contacted the Orange County Sheriff's Office the day after the encounter to report threatening phone calls. Their report included a link to the viral video, and the couple were later charged. The footage spread widely online.
Months later, on October 24, 2025, the Ninth Judicial Circuit State Attorney's Office formally charged Wiley, then 51, and Pyle, then 55, with assault evidencing prejudice, alleging they intentionally and unlawfully threatened violence against Johnson. According to WESH, that charge represented a formal legal reclassification of simple assault into a hate-crime-enhanced offense based on racial bias.
Florida Laws on Worker Protections
The reclassification stems from Florida Statute Section 775.085, which elevates any criminal misdemeanor or felony charge to a higher degree once prosecutors establish that an offense demonstrated prejudice based on race, color, ethnicity, or other protected characteristics. Under that statute, a second-degree misdemeanor is bumped up to a first-degree misdemeanor, according to the Florida Legislature.
The case also lands amid a broader statewide push to protect utility workers. Florida Senate Bill 1386, signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis in May 2025 and effective October 1, 2025, created reclassified criminal penalties specifically for assault or battery committed against utility workers performing critical infrastructure duties, according to Carlton Fields. That law similarly reclassifies simple assault on a utility worker from a second-degree to a first-degree misdemeanor. SB 1386 amended Florida Statute Section 901.15 to give officers warrantless arrest authority for assault or battery against utility workers; Section 784.07 classifies assault and battery offenses against specified personnel.
A Prosecutor Under Her Own Scrutiny
Worrell's decision to spotlight the case with a press conference carries added weight given her turbulent tenure leading the Ninth Judicial Circuit, which covers Orange and Osceola counties. Worrell was sworn back into office in January 2025 after winning re-election the previous November, following her August 2023 suspension by Governor DeSantis, as Hoodline has previously reported.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has criticized youthful-offender cases.
Part of a Wider Pattern of Worker Confrontations
The Wiley-Pyle case also fits into a troubling statewide pattern. According to state data cited by prosecutors in April 2025, Florida led the nation in reported road-rage and worker-confrontation incidents involving firearms during early 2025, prompting local prosecutors to advise field workers on safety protocols and increasingly emphasize conflict de-escalation for employees who interact with the public door to door.
Worrell planned a news conference in Orlando.
