A man accused of stalking and harassing UConn basketball star Paige Bueckers said on social media that he planned to marry her and that he had an engagement ring and lingerie in his possession when he was arrested near a Connecticut airport, according to police reports.
Robert Cole Parmalee, 40, posted statements on TikTok and sent emails to University of Connecticut officials that indicated he was in love with Bueckers and contained threats, police said.
Parmalee, whose last known addresses were Grants Pass, Oregon, and Ritzville, Washington, was being held on $100,000 bail Monday after being arraigned on the charges at a courthouse in Rockville, Connecticut. He was also ordered to stay away from a person referred to in court papers as “PB” and banned from UConn’s campus in Storrs.
His public defender did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Tuesday.
Parmalee was initially arrested on Aug. 27 while walking along a highway near Bradley International Airport near Hartford. He told a state trooper he had just flown in from the Pacific Northwest and was on his way to see Bueckers at UConn, police reports said, adding that he was found with a ring and lingerie.
The officer took Parmalee into custody after learning that an arrest warrant was pending out of Josephine County, Oregon, on charges that Parmalee set fire to a house with roommates and pets inside, police said.
Parmalee had posted photos, videos and comments about Bueckers on TikTok and other social media platforms, and had been sending emails to UConn officials since June with confusing remarks, including his desire to marry Bueckers, police said. The messages and emails did not initially warrant criminal charges, but his comments became alarming over time, the reports said.
An arrest warrant unnames the UConn student targeted in Parmalee’s messages, referring to him only as “V1.” It does say that Parmalee posted on social media about his desire to marry V1.
“Parmalee has exhibited persistent and escalating behavior and has made targeted attempts to post electronic messages about V1 and make threats to people close to V1. This has caused V1 emotional distress over the past two weeks,” a UConn police officer wrote in Friday’s statement.
V1 told police she discovered Parmalee had been sending several videos to her Instagram posts since February, but that they were not threatening. She said she did not respond to the messages. She said she became concerned about the safety of herself, her family and her teammates after learning of Parmalee’s arrest near the airport.
In a TikTok post reviewed by The Associated Press, Parmalee referenced a photo of Bueckers and an unnamed man and wrote, “This is worth it for this man, huh? … this is just one man, I sacrifice him, no problems, no questions asked.” Police reports cite that post and reference V1.
In another message, he said he brought V1 flowers and found her mother’s house, police said. He also wrote in another message that if he can’t live with the woman of his choice — referring to V1 — then, “I will choose to die, and I will choose to take all of you who are me, who oppose us, to hell.” He also tells V1 that “if you allow them to touch you, you are allowing them to die,” according to police reports.
In a TikTok post before arriving in Connecticut, Parmalee wrote, “Coming to UCONN Paige Madison Bueckers, I’ll be in Hartford tomorrow morning,” adding a photo of herself holding plane tickets at an airport.
Parmalee was initially arrested on an arson warrant in Oregon before being charged by UConn police with stalking, minor harassment and disturbing the peace.
According to police reports, Parmalee has a criminal history dating back to 2002, including arrests for sexual assault, harassment, burglary, driving under the influence and methamphetamine possession. Oregon police told Connecticut authorities they had no information about mental health calls related to Parmalee.
Bueckers, from Hopkins, Minn., was named national player of the year as a freshman. She spent about two years recovering from knee injuries before returning to the field last season and leading her team to the Last four where they lost to Iowa, led by Caitlin Clark.
The 22-year-old announced that she will return for the fifth year in Connecticut.
