Shawn Johnson of 'Dancing With the Stars' victim of kidnap plot?
A man allegedly obsessed with Shawn Johnson was arrested early Tuesday morning.
He was trying to sneak onto the "Dancing With the Stars" set and, according to TMZ, cops say he had a loaded shotgun and .45, zip ties and duct tape in his car.
The contestant's mother, Teri, has filed a petition for a restraining order against the man, Robert O'Ryan, 34. The restraining order seeks protection for 17-year-old Shawn, her mom, dad and "Dancing" partner Mark Ballas.
According to documents, the LAPD searched the suspect's car, finding both a loaded .45-caliber handgun and shotgun and materials including duct tape, zip ties and a map. Also found: "love letters, clippings and other information on the victim."
O'Ryan reportedly told police that "he had packed all his belongings and permanently left Florida to drive out here to be with [Shawn Johnson], he believes that she speaks to him personally through the television set and through ESP and that they will have a child together." He also stated that he "would be with her no matter what."
According to CBS' report on the incident, the nightmare started Monday afternoon when a CBS employee saw O'Ryan jumping a fence and entering an East Studio hallway.
Security asked for ID. O'Ryan showed them an expired concealed weapons license. When guards asked whether he had a weapon, O'Ryan told them he had two guns in his car. At that point, the guards called the cops.
Johnson petition claims she's "in fear for her life, she is extremely upset by this incident and her entire family and those around are all extremely concerned and fearful that [O'Ryan] might try to kidnap her or harm her in an effort to make good on his statements."
O'Ryan is in custody, booked on suspicion of carrying a loaded firearm in public, and is being held on $35,000 bail.
How scary is this?
All these injuries and now this apparent close-call kidnapping -- or worse -- attempt? Maybe "DWTS" really IS cursed.
What do you think?
Photo: Shawn Johnson and her dance partner Mark Ballas. Credit: FilmMagic
as far as I'm concerned, Shawn-John is an american icon and therefore should be protected, this petition for a restraining order obviously must go through. The guy is mental..... period.
If she is my daughter, I want him locked-up for a very long time.
The restraining order should be passed regardless of who she is. No one deserves this type of harrassment, "american icon" or not.
But can he dance?
People that become obsessed with another person like this guy is very scary!! Look how many others in the past have been killed or injured by someone that was obsessed. I pray that all of them will be kept safe from this man.
Somehow I don't see having zip ties and duct tape in the car as being incrementing evidence.... doesn't everyone carry these things? I do.
i hope they put that guy away 4 the rest of his life. i'm about to turn 16 and i would be terrified too if someone that was two times my age was stalking me. shawn is one of my top three fave celebs on dwts this season along w/ chuck & ty. GO SHAWN!!!!
Poor Girl!! She should not only get that restraining order but have her own freaking body guard or something with her in public. She is a celeb now and only being 17 she needs tons of protection!! Sounds like the guy is extremely sick and saying that he will be with her no matter what..sounds like he is not gonna stop and try what he can in prison or not! He could have others in on it with him. I would get her protection like no other!! That is just SICK!
that is some crazy *beep*
i think they should search his house.i wouldnt be surprise if they found pictures of shawn all over his house. what a wacko!
I understand what she is feeling. I was the victim of stalking when i was in college. He was my fathers age and was stalking me since I was 11 (and he wanted to marry me and have children). When I went away to college he felt safe to approach me and sent me thousands of letters, gifts, emails, phone calls, and presents. It started off as normal stuff and then went on to sending me the heads of puppies and rabbits (real ones), sat outside my dorm in a mobile home usually cleaning a gun. He wrote a "murder plan" very detailed on what he was going to do to me after he raped, tortured, and eventually killed me (he literally had the hole dug at his cabin). The police in the beginning told me that I could not do anything but give me a restraining order and treated me like I was the criminal not him. He was finally arrested after violating it 12 times only being arrested after he tried to put his plan into action. He was eventually charged with state and federal stalking laws among other things and granted me a lifetime restraining order (at the time I was like the 5th in the nation). He was sentenced to 14 years in a maximum security prison. Unfortunately for me I have to always be on guard since he will probably always be obsessed with me because he stalked me for 9 years and still deal with looking over my shoulder, jumping at every sound, fear of the dark, and nightmares.
Statistically 1 in 4 women are stalked on a college campus - which really is very scary when you think about it – and that study was 6 years ago so it might be worse now (the study was done by the government). I completely empathize with what happened to Shawn Johnson I know how scary it is. Nobody should have to deal with the fear - something I still deal with and probably always have. One thing I wished I had known was what to do when I first found out, who to contact, what I needed to keep track of (as in everything. . . my st6alking log was over 1100 pages) to not only get a restraining order but also prosecute, and how difficult it is to get help.
Sorry this is so long. . .it was hard to condense everything and still explain.