His pattern of stalking has caused me severe emotional distress
Fame, at its most expansive, opens a person to the world — and sometimes, the world does not know how to stop. In Los Angeles this May, pop star Sabrina Carpenter found herself the subject of an escalating obsession, as a man repeatedly crossed onto her property, tried her door, and returned again and again despite arrest. A judge has now drawn a legal boundary where personal safety had eroded, reminding us that visibility and vulnerability are, too often, the same condition.
- A man showed up at Carpenter's door, tried the handle, rang the bell, and refused to leave — then came back less than 24 hours after his first arrest.
- Police documented a pattern stretching back to April, describing it as obsessional stalking with all the hallmarks of an escalating threat to the victim's life.
- Carpenter submitted doorbell footage and a signed declaration to the court, describing the attempted break-in as among the most disturbing violations of safety and privacy she had ever endured.
- A judge granted a temporary restraining order, prohibiting the suspect from coming within 100 yards of Carpenter, her home, her car, her workplace, and two family members living with her.
- A full court hearing is set for June 17th, with criminal trespassing charges to follow the next day — the legal process now carrying what personal safety alone could not hold.
On May 23rd, a man crossed a neighbor's property to reach Sabrina Carpenter's front door in Los Angeles. He tried the handle, rang the bell, and told police — when they finally arrived — that the singer knew him and was expecting him. It was not true.
Carpenter, 27, is one of the most successful pop musicians in the world, with multiple top-three hits on both sides of the Atlantic. But that scale of success carries its own exposure. Court documents filed this week described what followed the first incident as a pattern of deliberate, escalating intrusion. The man, William Applegate, 31, returned to her home within 24 hours of his initial arrest. He loitered for hours, came back the following day, and parked outside. In her own declaration to the court, Carpenter described his conduct as causing her severe and ongoing emotional distress, and called the attempted break-in one of the most disturbing violations of her personal safety and privacy she had ever experienced. She submitted doorbell camera footage as evidence.
A Los Angeles Police Department detective, Peter Doomanis, filed a supporting declaration, noting that Applegate appeared to have developed an irrational fixation on the singer beginning as early as April 20th — behavior consistent with obsessional stalking, which research identifies as a serious and escalating risk.
On Friday, a judge granted the temporary restraining order. Applegate is now barred from coming within 100 yards of Carpenter, her home, her vehicle, her workplace, and two other residents of the house. A full hearing is scheduled for June 17th, with criminal trespassing charges to be addressed in a separate proceeding the following day. For now, a legal boundary stands where safety, inside her own home, had ceased to exist.
On May 23rd, a man showed up at Sabrina Carpenter's front door in Los Angeles. He had crossed onto her neighbor's property to get there. When he reached her entrance, he tried the handle, then rang the bell and refused to leave until police arrived and arrested him. He told officers he knew the singer, that she was expecting him. It was a lie.
Carpenter, 27, is among the world's most successful pop musicians—her songs "Espresso," "Please Please Please," "Taste," and "Manchild" have all charted in the top three on both sides of the Atlantic. But success at that scale brings a particular vulnerability. In court documents filed this week, her lawyers described what happened next as a pattern of escalating intrusion that left her in what she called "significant and ongoing fear" for her safety.
The man, identified as William Applegate, 31, returned to her home less than 24 hours after that first arrest. He loitered outside for hours. The following day, he came back again and parked outside. In her signed declaration to the court, Carpenter wrote that his pattern of stalking, trespassing, and surveillance had caused her "severe and ongoing emotional distress." She described the attempted break-in as "among the most disturbing violations of personal safety and privacy" she had ever experienced. She submitted doorbell camera footage as evidence.
On Friday, a judge granted her request for a temporary restraining order. Applegate is now prohibited from coming within 100 yards of Carpenter, her home, her car, her workplace, or two other residents of the house—her sister and her sister's boyfriend. A detective with the Los Angeles Police Department, Peter Doomanis, filed his own declaration in support of the order. He wrote that Applegate had "developed a disturbing and irrational fixation" on the singer. The pattern of behavior, Doomanis noted, appeared to have begun as early as April 20th. It bore all the hallmarks of obsessional stalking—the kind that research shows poses a serious and escalating risk to victim safety.
A full court hearing is scheduled for June 17th. Applegate is due in criminal court the day after that to face charges of criminal trespassing. For now, the temporary order stands—a legal boundary drawn around a life that, by all accounts, had become unsafe in her own home.
Notable Quotes
His pattern of stalking, trespassing, and surveillance has caused me severe and ongoing emotional distress.— Sabrina Carpenter, in her signed court declaration
The pattern of his conduct reflects the hallmarks of a fixated, obsessional individual...consistent with well-documented patterns of stalking behaviour that pose a serious and escalating risk to victim safety.— Detective Peter Doomanis, Los Angeles Police Department
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
What made this case serious enough for a judge to act so quickly on a temporary order?
The pattern. It wasn't a single incident—it was repeated returns, escalation, false claims of familiarity, and refusal to leave. The detective's language was careful but clear: this looked like obsessional stalking, not a confused fan.
Did Carpenter have security there when he showed up?
Yes. Her security confronted him during at least one incident and told him to leave. He refused, insisting he knew her. That's part of what made it so alarming—he wasn't deterred by being told no.
The doorbell footage—what did that show?
The court documents don't detail what's on it, but it was significant enough that she submitted it alongside her declaration. It was evidence of what she was describing, not just her word against his.
What happens if he violates the 100-yard order?
That becomes a separate legal matter—likely contempt of court. But the real test comes after June 17th, when the full hearing happens and the criminal trespassing case moves forward. That's when a judge decides if the temporary order becomes permanent.
Does being a major celebrity change how seriously police and courts treat these cases?
It can cut both ways. On one hand, there's more documentation—security footage, witnesses. On the other, some people become fixated precisely because of celebrity. The detective's declaration suggests he saw the classic markers of that kind of obsession.