Pop star Sabrina Carpenter has been granted a five-year restraining order against a man she alleges stalked her and attempted to enter her home more than a dozen times.
On Wednesday, a judge ordered William Applegate, 31, to say away from the 27-year-old singer for five years.
Applegate said at a hearing that he and Carpenter were part of a classified military program that required them to “be together as soon as possible” because it’s essential to “national and global security,” according to The Associated Press.
Rolling Stone reports that Applegate said he had been recruited to the program at a local Los Angeles hotel and that his mission involved “the second coming of Christ” and he had to contact Carpenter to save the world.
Carpenter appeared remotely for the court hearing via video link but did not testify.
Carpenter’s lawyer, Blair Berk, asked for the five-year order, arguing that Applegate had admitted in social media posts and court declarations that he had travelled to the pop star’s private homes on more than a dozen occasions, according to Rolling Stone.
Berk alleged that on May 23, Applegate “seriously alarmed and harassed” Carpenter when he trespassed onto her neighbour’s property to bypass her security fence, made his way to her front door and “forcefully pushed down” on the door handle.
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Los Angeles County Judge David I. Wasserman ordered Applegate to stay at least 100 yards (around 91 metres) away from Carpenter at all times until midnight on June 17, 2031, according to Rolling Stone.
In his ruling, he also reportedly ordered Applegate to keep his distance from her home, vehicles and places of work. The judge also reportedly said Applegate can’t try to contact Carpenter and cannot own or possess any firearms or ammunition.
“Sir, I want to be very clear. Please listen closely,” Wasserman reportedly said, speaking directly to Applegate. “I understand it’s your belief that in order to save the world, you and [Carpenter] need to be together. I understand that is your belief. [But] this court has issued its order. And I expect you to obey the order, not what you think the military commands of you.… I don’t want you to leave here thinking that your purpose is greater than what I think. The order is the order, and you must follow it. Do you understand?”
Applegate said in his filing opposing the restraining order that he was at Carpenter’s Coachella festival performance in April and she had looked at him as she sang in an attempt to communicate with him, according to The Associated Press.
Earlier this month, the Please Please Please singer was granted a temporary restraining order against Applegate.
Carpenter filed a civil harassment restraining order petition in Los Angeles County Superior Court on May 29, alleging that the man appeared at her home uninvited on multiple occasions in recent weeks, tried to break into her house and refused to leave when confronted by her security, according to Rolling Stone.
“[The man] fabricated the outrageous and entirely false claim that he personally knew me and that I was expecting him. This was a complete lie,” Carpenter allegedly wrote in her statement about the May 23 incident.
The Manchild singer reportedly said the man returned less than 24 hours later and loitered outside her house for hours. On May 25, he allegedly returned and parked outside her home, “conducting what can only be described as deliberate surveillance of my movements and my home,” Rolling Stone reports.
Carpenter reportedly included screenshots from her Ring security camera footage in her request for the restraining order.
“This is not the behavior of someone who stumbled upon my property by accident,” the 27-year-old singer reportedly wrote in her statement to the court. “This is intentional stalking and surveillance directed at me and my residence.”
Applegate remains under criminal investigation.
— with files from The Associated Press
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