Apr 5, 2024; Cleveland, OH, USA; Connecticut Huskies guard Paige Bueckers (5) dribbles the ball against the Iowa Hawkeyes in the semifinals of the Final Four of the womens 2024 NCAA Tournament at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images A 40-year-old man is facing charges for allegedly stalking and harassing UConn women’s basketball star Paige Bueckers.
Robert Cole Parmalee of Grants Pass, Ore., was arrested by UConn police Friday. He appeared in Connecticut Superior Court on Monday and is being held on $100,000 bond.
Connecticut State Police previously arrested Parmalee on Aug. 27 after he was seen walking on a controlled-access highway near Hartford. He told police he was on his way to see Bueckers, UConn Police reported.
Parmalee surfaced on UConn’s radar in June after sending the school’s communications department a series of odd emails, school police reported. Claiming to be part of the royal family, Parmalee allegedly wrote he wished to marry someone involved with the Huskies’ women’s basketball team.
Parmalee also referenced Bueckers in multiple social media posts. One post contained a fake wedding invitation, while others showed Parmalee with what was possibly an engagement ring.
He posted before his Aug. 27 arrest that he intended to propose to Bueckers and have her kicked out of UConn.
A school police officer noted 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 to die, and I will choose to take all of you that (op)pose me, oppose us, to hell, and return, king…,” the post read.
An affidavit indicated that Parmalee had been messaging Bueckers on Instagram since February. Bueckers never replied to Parmalee, per the document. She told UConn police Friday that she feared for her safety and that of her family and teammates, the affidavit noted.
Neither Bueckers’ lawyers nor the UConn women’s basketball team commented on the matter.
A Connecticut Superior Court judge said Monday that Parmalee will be under “intense pretrial supervision,” including GPS tracking.
Parmalee is set to appear in Connecticut Superior Court on Oct. 22.
Bueckers, 22, was the Big East Player of the Year and a first-team All-American last season as a redshirt junior. The guard averaged a career-high 21.9 points per game and helped the Huskies reach the Final Four.
–Field Level Media
