A Seattle man was arrested for a third time in five days — less than an hour after being released a second time by a Manhattan judge — after police said he was lurking outside of Taylor Swift’s Tribeca townhouse.
According to court records, David Crowe now faces numerous charges including stalking, harassment and criminal contempt. On Wednesday, a judge granted a temporary order of protection and charged Crowe with criminal contempt in the second degree, meaning he was being disobedient to or disrespectful toward a court of law.
Andrew Warshawer, a deputy chief in the New York County District Attorney’s Office, said Crowe willfully disobeyed the order of protection issued by the judge. Photographic and video evidence showed Crowe returning to a dumpster near Swift’s apartment after being released from an arraignment Wednesday.
Prosecutors asked for supervised release at the highest possible level stating in court filings: “These cases are not deemed bail-eligible, however [Crowe’s] continued conduct in showing up to this location despite numerous directives to leave shows a clear risk that [Crowe] will not abide by court orders to return to court.”
Neighbors said they spotted Crowe digging through a dumpster across from the singer’s New York City home Wednesday afternoon.
When Crowe was asked by Fox 5 in New York why he was stalking Swift, he said, “I’m not, I was grabbing some of my pants they threw in the dumpster when they falsely arrested me.”
According to a police report, an informant said Crowe has been at Swift’s apartment about 30 times since November 25, 2023. The report stated that a “custodian” for the property asked Crowe on 10 occasions not to approach the building and leave the immediate area.
“Under the bail laws right now,” said trial attorney Imran Ansari, “it’s really difficult for a prosecutor to convince a judge, under that law, to set bail so it’s more likely than not that Crowe, under the offenses that we see him committing, would be released.”
A temporary order of protection was granted, according to prosecutors, meaning Crowe must “stay away” and have no contact directly with Swift or through third parties. The judge also granted the defense counsel’s request for a “730 exam” which will determine if the defendant is fit to stand trial.
“The most dangerous stalkers are going to keep stalking,” said Carrie Goldberg, owner of C.A. Goldberg, PLLC, a New York City law firm that focuses on stalking online and off. “They are compulsive, impulsive, relentless and don’t necessarily have other anchors in their life. Current New York laws require an intimate connection between offenders, but as we see here with Swift, it’s not always the case that they know one another. “
Goldberg is working to introduce legislation in a “21st Century Anti-Stalking Bill.”
“The reason the anti-stalking bill is so necessary,” Goldberg said, “is that often police don’t arrest for stalking or harassment. Or it will take months before there’s an arrest for it. So this lets victims go directly to the court to show they’re being stalked and need an order of protection. It doesn’t hinge on the offender being arrested first.”
Reports don’t say if Swift was home at the time of the arrests. Swift was spotted in New York City earlier this week having dinner with friends Brittany Mahomes and Cara Delevingne.
Cara Mazor is David Crowe’s attorney. According to Mazor’s LinkedIn she has been a trial attorney with New York County Defender Services (NYCDS) since September of 2019.
NYCDS replied to an e-mail on this case with, “We are not commenting at this time.”
Crowe is due back in court on March 12.
Follow Bryan West, the USA TODAY Network’s Taylor Swift reporter, on Instagram, TikTok and X as @BryanWestTV.
