The man accused of stalking and harassing Connecticut basketball star Paige Bueckers has pleaded guilty to a stalking charge after declaring on social media he intended to marry her.
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 August 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.
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 for stalking Paige Bueckers
Parmalee posted shots of an engagement ring he apparently intended to give Bueckers
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.
‘This is worth it for this guy, huh?’ Parmalee captioned the post, according to the AP. ‘This is just one guy, I’ll sacrifice him, no problems, no questions asked.’
‘I’m coming to UCONN Paige Madison Bueckers, I’ll be in Hartford tomorrow morning,’ he wrote in one August 27 TikTok post just hours before his arrest near Hartford.
The original affidavit does not name Bueckers but includes references to a ‘V1’ who was the subject of Parmalee’s ‘continual, escalating behavior’ and suffered ’emotional distress over the past two weeks’ as a result.
Many of Parmalee’s posts about Bueckers are nonsensical ramblings, which initially fell short of anything criminal in the eyes of authorities.
One post include the image of a wedding invitation, which asked guests to join ‘Paige and Cole’ in Spokane, Washington on October 20.
But, as the arrest affidavit explains, his posts became more alarming leading up to his arrest on August 27.
‘I will choose to die, and I will choose to take all of you that pose me, oppose us, to hell,’ he wrote in one message shared by police. ‘If you allow them to touch you, you allow them to die.’
According to police, V1 recently discovered direct messages from Parmalee to her Instagram account and became concerned for the her safety, as well as her family and teammates’ well-being, when they learned he’d been arrested outside Hartford.
Parmalee posted wedding invitations for ‘Paige and Cole’ on TikTok
Parmalee was reportedly found with a ring and lingerie when he was picked up by police
In this post, Parmalee described a fictionalized interaction between himself and Bueckers
Parmalee also expressed a desire to find the home of V1’s mother, according to the affidavit.
He has previously been arrested for misdemeanor sexual abuse, burglary, driving under the influence and possession of methamphetamine, as well as harassment.
Curiously, his TikTok handle is ‘Cole Parmelee,’ which uses his purported middle name and a different spelling of his last name than what was used by Connecticut police.
Bueckers, 22, is a former college player of the year, and outside of a disappointing 2022-23 season when she recovered from knee surgery, has been one of the sport’s most visible athletes.
The 6-foot guard and Minnesota native is favored to be picked among the first few picks of the 2025 WNBA Draft.
