Selena Gomez obtains restraining order against serial stalker
Disney star Selena Gomez has obtained a restraining order against a 46-year-old convicted stalker who allegedly planned to kill her based on conversations he said he had with God.
Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge William Stewart last week ordered Thomas Brodnicki, who is listed in court documents as staying at the America Motel in Los Angeles, to stay at least 100 yards away from Gomez, her parents and an assistant.
In court documents, Gomez said she feared Brodnicki “will harm them in his attempts to see me or to harm or kill me.”
The 19-year-old girlfriend of teen heartthrob Justin Bieber told the court, which issued the temporary restraining order Oct. 13, that Brodnicki visited her workplace at least three times.
Brodnicki allegedly has a long history of mental illness, and was twice convicted of stalking in Illinois. In one case, he was arrested after stalking a woman for years from a suburb of Chicago to Ames, Iowa, where she was attending college.
At the time of his arrest in 2010, police said Brodnicki told them he wanted to impregnate the woman and would do so no matter the circumstances.
In that case, Brodnicki pleaded guilty to cyberstalking and was sentenced in May of that year to three years in prison. He was released Jan. 11, according to Stacey Solano, spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Corrections.
Authorities said Brodnicki likely got credit for time served before his plea, explaining why he was out of prison and apparently free to travel to California.
Brodnicki traveled from Chicago to Los Angeles in September to meet Gomez, but police placed him on a 72-hour mental health hold after he told passersby that he would “scratch people’s eyes out,” according to court records.
During the detention, Brodnicki allegedly told a doctor that he had thoughts of hurting and killing Gomez. The doctor reported Brodnicki’s threats to police because he “presented a serious danger of violence” to Gomez, according to court records.
Los Angeles Police officials said they could not comment on threat cases or whether Brodnicki has been released.
Calls to his Los Angeles hotel went unanswered on Tuesday.
According to court records, the LAPD’s Threat Management Unit was taking Brodnicki’s threat to kill Gomez “extremely seriously,” due to his history of stalking, criminal threats, visits to Gomez’s workplace and mental illness.
A hearing regarding the temporary restraining order is scheduled for Nov. 4 in the Burbank courthouse.
Jennifer Delgado at the Chicago Tribune and freelance reporter George Houde contributed to this report.