Court grants Sabrina Carpenter restraining order in stalking case
A judge barred William Applegate from coming within 100 yards of Sabrina Carpenter after she said he breached her home’s security and tried to force open her front door.
A Los Angeles County court granted Sabrina Carpenter a temporary restraining order after she said a man she had never met tried to get into her Hollywood Hills home and kept returning even after police arrested him.
Carpenter filed for a civil harassment restraining order in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Friday, May 29, 2026. The order requires William Applegate, 31, to stay at least 100 yards away from Carpenter and her home, and it also protects her sister, Sarah Carpenter, and Sarah’s partner, who live at the residence.
The filing says Carpenter first became aware of Applegate around April 20, then saw the situation escalate sharply on May 23, when she alleged he breached security fencing, went to the front door and tried to forcibly open it. Police arrested Applegate for criminal trespass after that incident, but Carpenter said he returned less than 24 hours later and loitered in her driveway for about two hours. Court documents say he appeared again on May 25. Ring doorbell images captured him at the door, according to the filings.
A Los Angeles police detective described Applegate as mentally unstable and said he had developed a disturbing and irrational fixation on Carpenter, posing what the detective called a clear, credible and ongoing threat. Carpenter said her security team later determined the behavior had been going on for more than a month. She described Applegate as a complete stranger.
The case shows how civil restraining orders are often used in stalking matters when the conduct crosses from unwanted attention into repeated boundary violations, surveillance and attempted access to a victim’s home. Here, the court record points to a pattern: the alleged breach of fencing, the attempt to open the front door, the return visits after arrest and the repeated presence near the property. Those details are the kind judges weigh when deciding whether immediate protection is needed before a fuller hearing.
Applegate is scheduled to appear in court on June 18, 2026. The broader stakes are not unusual: CDC data released in 2025 found that 22.5% of U.S. women, or 28.8 million people, have experienced stalking in their lifetimes. For many victims, the decision to seek court protection comes only after security has been breached more than once and the risk has become impossible to dismiss.
This article was produced by Prism’s automated news system from verified source data, official records, and press releases, then run through automated quality and moderation checks before publishing. The system is built and supervised by the people who set the standards it runs under. Read our full AI policy.
Did this article answer your question?
