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JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. - (Gambling911.com) - A Bristol, Virginia police officer has won a $150,000 defamation judgment after a casino patron accused her on TikTok of assaulting her at Hard Rock Bristol, located approximately 25 miles outside of Johnson City, Tennessee.
The patron’s videos drew more than 1.2 million views, prompting police to release body-camera footage disputing her claims.
A jury awarded Officer Lilly-Kay Tomlinson $75,000 in compensatory damages and $75,000 in punitive damages after 20 minutes of deliberation.
On Sept. 6, 2025, casino security at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Bristol asked the on-site police officer to speak with two patrons suspected of sneaking into the Plum Lounge, a VIP area reserved for qualifying Unity by Hard Rock rewards members.
Stephanie Lynn Bates, a self-described “influencer” on TikTok, became loud and unruly, claiming she and her husband rightfully entered the Plum Lounge with their rewards cards.
Tomlinson eventually told the couple they would be arrested unless they immediately vacated the property.
Bates who has nearly 300,000 followers and more than 4.6 million likes, claimed she and her husband were forcibly and wrongly removed from the Hard Rock property by Tomlinson and other security personnel.
In one of the videos Bates posted, she claimed Bates detailed how Tomlinson allegedly “assaulted” her by yanking her arm. That video was titled “Violent Cop Who Wrongly Assaulted Me".
The police officer's body cam video told a different story.
"You’re here for me? What the f***? You ain’t here for me, baby,” Bates can be heard saying in the body camera footage. Bates then tells Tomlinson that she “better get your facts straight” and calls her a “dumb b***h.”
Tomlinson filed her defamation lawsuit two months after the incident.
Court records revealed that Bates stopped at a hospital after her claimed assault but was determined to have not suffered a physical injury.
Before the judgment, Bates apologized to the officers, saying she could have handled herself “a hundred times better.”
- Nagesh Rath, Gambling911.com
