Apple boss Tim Cook granted restraining order against female stalker

Virgina woman accused of stalking the executive since 2020

Apple CEO Tim Cook. Getty Images / AFP

A California judge granted a temporary restraining order to Apple chief executive Tim Cook after the iPhone-maker said a woman from Virginia had been harassing him since 2020.

The woman sent Mr Cook hundreds of sometimes threatening messages and appeared at his Palo Alto condo in 2021, according to the company and the court documents.

The restraining order bars the woman from harassing, stalking and contacting the Apple boss.

Apple said the woman began harassing Mr Cook in October 2020 when she allegedly tweeted that they were married and that he had fathered her twin children.

Between October and November of 2020, she allegedly emailed Mr Cook 200 times with messages that showed a “significant escalation in tone” and became “threatening and highly disturbing”, the petition says.

In one message, the woman allegedly said she would never forget or forgive Mr Cook and she included a picture of what the company said in the petition was a loaded handgun.

The woman allegedly opened dozens of corporations in Mr Cook’s name between California, New York and Virginia, including one with “Safe Sexclinic, Cook HIV” in its name, the petition says.

In a September 2021 email to Mr Cook, the woman allegedly said: “I’m applying your roommate in Palo Alto.” The next month, she allegedly drove her Porsche SUV from Virginia to Mr Cook’s condo, the petition says.

Demand for $500 million in cash

According to the petition filed by Apple, when she asked Mr Cook’s security guards if she could speak with him, they told her to leave. When she returned 20 minutes later, the guards called police, the petition says.

The woman allegedly told authorities that she was staying locally and “could get violent”, the petition said. No weapons were found in her car during a search, according to the petition. Her car, which had expired registration, was towed.

The woman allegedly continued emailing and sending tweets to the Apple chief executive. She asked for $500 million in cash in one message sent in December and said in a January tweet that he would be “suicided in his condo”.

The company asked for the restraining order to apply to Mr Cook and all company employees, a request Superior Court Judge Carol Overton granted.

The next hearing in the case is scheduled for March 29.