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Restraining Order Issued Against Man Stalking Facebook Founder TMCnet Web Editor Facebook (News - Alert) Founder Mark Zuckerberg has just been granted a temporary restraining order against a man who has been repeatedly following him, his girlfriend, and his sister.
On Feb. 1, a Santa Clara County Superior Court judge ordered 31-year-old Pradeep Manukonda of Milpitas to stay away from Zuckerberg and to stop contacting him.
Manukonda initially tried to contact Zuckerberg numerous times in December via letter, e-mail and Facebook, even trying to get in contact with Zuckerberg up to 20 times in one day, Facebook security officer Todd Sheets said in a court declaration that, Manukonda also left a note on Zuckerberg's car and was later spotted outside his house.
Guards spotted Manukonda recently trying to walk up the front stairs to Zuckerberg's Palo Alto (News - Alert) residence, where Zuckerberg's girlfriend was at home, according to court documents.
Sheets said he contacted the Palo Alto police department immediately after this incident, and that an officer proceeded to give Manukonda a verbal stay-away order.
Two days later, Sheets said Manukonda violated this order, sending Zuckerberg a letter at his home and then flowers two days following that, even though an in-person interview was conducted with Sheets and Manukonda promised to stop all types of contact.
The letters were included as evidence in the court file. In these various letter, Manukonda continuously pleads with Zuckerberg to spend a couple of minutes together. Through indirect suggestions, it appears as if Manukonda wants money to pay for medical treatment for his mother.
'I plead, please help me in saving my mother,' he writes in a letter dated Jan. 23. 'I am ready to die for you. Please Mark please.' In that same letter he writes: 'I am waiting outside your house.'
Neither Manukonda or Facebook have commented on the restraining order-Facebook has only confirmed the actual order, declining to further comment.
The order also requires Manukonda to stay away from Zuckerberg's girlfriend. Jamie Epstein is a TMCnet Web Editor. Previously she interned at News 12 Long Island as a reporter's assistant. After working as an administrative assistant for a year, she joined TMC (News - Alert) as a Web editor for TMCnet. Jamie grew up on the North Shore of Long Island and holds a bachelor's degree in mass communication with a concentration in broadcasting from Five Towns College. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page. Edited by Jamie Epstein |