Man pleads guilty to stalking UConn basketball star Paige Bueckers

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ROCKVILLE, Conn. (AP) — A man accused of stalking and harassing UConn basketball star Paige Bueckers, and who said on social media he intended to marry her, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to a stalking charge.

Robert Cole Parmalee, 40, who had an engagement ring and lingerie with him when he was first arrested in August, received a one-year suspended sentence and three years' probation on Wednesday, a court clerk said.

He had originally faced charges of stalking, breach of peace and harassment, but those were substituted for a single count of second-degree stalking, the clerk said. An email was sent seeking comment with his public defender.

Parmalee, whose last known addresses were in Grants Pass, Oregon, and Ritzville, Washington, was initially arrested Aug. 27 with the ring and lingerie while walking along a highway near Bradley International Airport near Hartford. He told a state trooper that he had just flown in from the Pacific Northwest and was on his way to see Bueckers at UConn, the police reports said.

The trooper took Parmalee into custody when he learned there was an arrest warrant against him out of Josephine County, Oregon, accusing Parmalee of setting a home on fire 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 emailed UConn officials since June with rambling comments including his desire to marry Bueckers, police said. The postings and emails initially did not warrant criminal charges, but his comments became alarming over time, police reports said.