Law has eye on ‘obsessed fan’
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Santa Barbara man was arrested last month for terrorist threats, pulling weapon
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Local law enforcement officials are “aware of” a California man who has been described as an obsessed fan of Home Town and has moved to Laurel, Chief Tommy Cox of the Laurel Police Department said.
“We have had a conversation,” Cox said, “but we can’t just tell someone to get out of town because we don’t like them.”
Our View: Home folks hospitable … also armed, protective
John Gaffney, 58, of Santa Barbara is reportedly purchasing a home on 5th Avenue. He sent a photo to the Leader-Call showing himself in a Storm Trooper outfit that he walked around town in on Monday with this message: “I would like to sincerely apologize for anyone who was startled or offended by my actions or costume on May 4th, ‘Annual Star Wars Day!’ Please accept my apology.”
But it wasn’t his costume that had people worried. It was his reported “obsession” with the stars of the hit HGTV show “Home Town” and their children and his recent arrest in Santa Barbara.
Gaffney was charged with making terrorist threats and brandishing a weapon in a neighborhood, according to the April 22 edition of Edhat, a media outlet in Santa Barbara.
He was accused of pulling a firearm and a taser after a verbal altercation and the accuser reported “serious verbal threats” to harm him.
Gaffney then fled into his apartment before the police arrived, according to the report, and officers set up a perimeter around his residence before convincing him to surrender. A stun gun, taser and pepper spray were found in the residence. He was booked into the Santa Barbara County Jail and released after posting $50,000 bail. He was reportedly wearing an ankle monitor when he was seen in Laurel.
Gaffney sent out brochures around Laurel offering a $1,000 reward for anyone who could help him find a home for sale in the historic district so he could get Ben and Erin Napier to renovate it for him. His Facebook page shows that he is a real-estate broker in Santa Barbara.
There were reports that he had dolls named after the children of stars on the show.
There have been extra patrols in the area, Cox confirmed, “at no cost to the taxpayers.”
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