Aharon Zebulon Israel Brown, the man accused of obsessively stalking Ariana Grande, is due in court for a preliminary hearing on Thursday.
The Santa Barbara News-Press reports Brown, 24, was arrested in June for breaking into Ariana’s Montecito, California, house while she wasn’t home. He was charged with three felonies for damaging power lines, burglary and stalking, as well as two misdemeanors.
One felony charge, first-degree residential burglary, was described as serious and violent by prosecutors via a special allegation. Authorities believe Brown intended to commit great violence, injury and bodily harm to Ariana, adding they suspect him of “other acts disclosing a high degree of cruelty, viciousness, or callousness.”
Prosecutors also claim Brown “threatened witnesses, unlawfully prevented or dissuaded witnesses from testifying, suborned perjury, or in any other way illegally interfered with the judicial process.”
Brown broke into Ariana’s home while he was under a temporary restraining order for stalking her.
Ariana filed for the protective order after Brown allegedly showed up at her home repeatedly in 2021, sometimes brandishing a weapon while making threats. He was pepper-sprayed by Ariana’s security on one occasion and was arrested in September 2021 after brandishing a hunting knife.
The order he was under at the time of the break-in said Brown did “willfully, maliciously, and repeatedly follow or harass this victim and made a credible threat with the intent that the victim be placed in reasonable fear of death or great bodily injury to himself or herself and his or her immediate family.”
Brown is being held without bail and has entered not-guilty pleas to the Santa Barbara Superior Court. Thursday’s preliminary hearing will most likely determine if this will require a trial.
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