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Man charged with stalking college basketball star Paige Bueckers | College Basketball
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Man charged with stalking college basketball star Paige Bueckers | College Basketball

A 40-year-old man is accused of stalking and harassing UConn basketball star Paige Bueckers.

Robert Cole Parmalee of Grants Pass, Oregon, was arrested by UConn police on Friday. He appeared in court on Monday and is being held on $100,000 bail.

Connecticut State Police had previously arrested Parmalee on August 27 after he was seen walking on a highway near Hartford. He told police he was on his way to Bueckers.

Parmalee popped up on UConn’s radar in June after sending a series of strange emails to the university’s communications department. Parmalee claimed to be part of the royal family and allegedly wrote that he wanted to marry someone associated with the Huskies women’s basketball team. Parmalee also referenced Bueckers in several social media posts. One post included a fake wedding invitation, while others showed Parmalee with a possible engagement ring. Before his arrest in August, he posted that he wanted to propose to Bueckers and get her kicked out of UConn.

A school police officer noticed other alarming posts from Parmalee, including one from his TikTok account.

“And if I cannot live with a woman of my choosing, (Bueckers), then I will choose death, and I will choose to take all who oppose me, who oppose us, to hell and return, King…” the post said.

An affidavit said Parmalee had been messaging Bueckers on Instagram since February. Bueckers did not respond to Parmalee, the document shows. She told UConn police on Friday she feared for her safety and that of her family and teammates, the affidavit said.

Neither Bueckers’ attorneys nor the UConn women’s basketball team have commented on the matter.

A Connecticut Supreme Court judge said Monday that Parmalee is under “intensive pretrial supervision,” which includes GPS monitoring.

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Bueckers was the Big East Player of the Year and a first-team All-American as a redshirt junior last season. The guard averaged a career-high 21.9 points per game and helped the Huskies reach the Final Four.

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