A 40-year-old has been arrested after making repeated threats to UConn girls’s basketball famous person Paige Bueckers, according to ESPN. Police took an Oregon man named Robert Cole Parmalee into custody on Friday, and he’s been charged with breach of peace, digital stalking, and harassment after a sequence of weird and alarming messages about Bueckers.
UConn first grew to become conscious of a possible stalker state of affairs when it acquired emails from the person in June that detailed his need to marry somebody on the basketball group. His social media was stuffed with references to Bueckers, and he reportedly made up a faux wedding ceremony invitation and posted a number of footage of himself with an engagement ring.
The story will get extra horrifying from there. Right here’s what ESPN reported concerning the threats he made to Bueckers:
Parmalee additionally made social media posts {that a} UConn Police officer depicted as threatening to Bueckers’ family and friends. One submit on his TikTok account learn: “And if I can’t stay with a lady of my selecting, [Bueckers], then I’ll select to die, and I’ll select to take all of you that [op]pose me, oppose us, to hell, and return, king…”
He was additionally reportedly direct messaging Bueckers on Instagram till she informed authorities about his conduct. Parmlee was additionally arrested in Connecticut in August when he was discovered trespassing on a freeway close to the airport. He reported informed the cops he was going to see Bueckers.
Ladies’s basketball stars have been seeing growing harassment as the game has gotten extra fashionable. Many WNBA gamers not too long ago called out commissioner Cathy Engelbert for failing to properly condemn online racism directed at athletes.
Read Katie Heindl on the increasing threats and violence directed at women in sports.