Authorities arrested Taylor Swift’s alleged stalker again, just hours after he appeared in court. It’s the third time authorities have arrested David Crowe near Swift’s New York City home in the past week.
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Crowe, 33, was arrested less than two hours after he appeared in court. The judge had granted Crowe a supervised release and arraigned him on stalking and harassment charges, for which Crowe entered no plea.
A judge granted an order of protection against Crowe. The alleged stalker had visited near Swift’s apartment building 30 times since November. However, Crowe denies stalking the singer. Upon his latest arrest, he said, “I’m not, I was grabbing some of my pants they threw in the dumpster when they falsely arrested me.”
Crowe reportedly has been asked to leave the building where Swift lives on 10 separate occasions. Prosecutors demanded the highest level of supervised release possible.
They wrote, “These cases are not deemed bail-eligible, however [Crowe’s] continued conduct in showing up to this location despite numerous directives to leave shows a clear risk that [Crowe] will not abide by court orders to return to court.”
Alleged Stalker Likely to Make Release
In an interview with USA TODAY, one attorney explained why Crowe’s case is difficult despite repeated arrests near Swift’s residence.
“Under the bail laws right now,” said trial attorney Imran Ansari, “it’s really difficult for a prosecutor to convince a judge, under that law, to set bail so it’s more likely than not that Crowe, under the offenses that we see him committing, would be released.”
One lawyer who wants to introduce a new statute in the city that would target repeated stalkers cited the Swift case.
“The most dangerous stalkers are going to keep stalking,” said Carrie Goldberg, owner of C.A. Goldberg, PLLC. “They are compulsive, impulsive, relentless, and don’t necessarily have other anchors in their life. Current New York laws require an intimate connection between offenders, but as we see here with Swift, it’s not always the case that they know one another.”
Goldberg further elaborated on the proposed anti-stalking bill.
“The reason the anti-stalking bill is so necessary,” Goldberg said, “is that often police don’t arrest for stalking or harassment. Or it will take months before there’s an arrest for it. So this lets victims go directly to the court to show they’re being stalked and need an order of protection. It doesn’t hinge on the offender being arrested first.”
Photo by Terry Wyatt/Getty Images
