Mitchell Taebel is in trouble once again, this time for threatening and stalking Taylor Swift. He allegedly harassed her, the people on her management team, and a family member. Here’s a list of some of the things he did, according to news reports:
- sent voice messages directly to her saying that he would happily wear a bomb if he could not be with his “soulmate”
- left a message for the singer’s father claiming to be her soulmate and that he was the only one who could make her secure
- has gone to her home
- posted messages on Facebook of him firing a gun at a gun range, posting pictures of other people holding rifles (his Facebook account is currently unavailable)
- threatening to engage in violence if there was a “sexual performance” of a certain song
- contacted governor offices across several states to tell them about his intention on making his presidential campaign part of her music tour
- contacted media outlets about his proposal to Swift
- repeated the message that he needed to meet with her and that he would wear a bomb on his chest and that not meeting with her would be worse than death
- left repeated messages on her voicemail threatening her and stating bizarre things including something about being raped by aliens and bugs
- traveled to her shows and was able to get in despite being on a security threat list
Her management company was able to secure a temporary restraining order and eventually got that extended. Even after the restraining order, he was still posting messages on his social media sites and hers. His messages, calls, and threats were constant.
He entered a not guilty plea to all charges and is currently in jail on a $15,000 or cash bond.
Mr. Taebel has a lengthy criminal history. He also, at one time, utilized sovereign citizen tactics and ideas in court. Court records reveal that he often files frivolous lawsuits.
In 2017, he writes below that he was changed for a “felony of assault in Las Vegas” and sent letters to multiple (and even perhaps many) politicians asking for their help:
I believe this incident happened while he was in jail. He was charged with assaulting a corrections officer at the Clark County Detention Center.
From the court records, the officer recounted interacting with Mr. Taebel in the booking area. He was waiting to be further interviewed at a place where all inmates are interviewed for medical screening, classification, etc.
The officer explains that Mr. Taebel was just starting to be interviewed by the classification section when he heard something happening between the booking officer and Mr. Taebel. The officer states that he took the position by the water fountain to see if any further assistance was needed. Mr. Taebel repeatedly kept asking for an attorney and attempted to invoke his Fifth Amendment privilege. It wasn’t the proper place for such requests.
Mr. Taebel continued stating that he wanted to speak with an attorney and that he wanted to invoke his Fifth Amendment privilege preventing the officers from getting through the booking process.
The officer went up to Mr. Taebel and was attempting to move him to the back of the open booking area. Mr. Taebel stood up and refused to move back to the proper area. He wanted to debate the fact that he was seated in the front area of the open booking area initially and did not want to go to the back.
The officer continued to direct him to the back area and explained that his failure to answer questions had prevented the booking process from occurring and they needed to move him to deal with the problem.
At that point, the officer’s partner had moved closer to the two because he saw that they were having an issue but Mr. Taebel continued to not move as instructed. The decision was made to move him to a side cell. The officer attempted to handcuff him which is typical procedure. Moving an inmate to the side cell is meant to help them calm down.
The officer begins to handcuff Mr. Taebel and placed him in a position where he could put the handcuffs on him. Mr. Taebel turned around and tried to strike him.
The officer explains: “I remember… that he turned… to his left, he immediately tried to strike me. I closed the distance on him. We basically got face-to-face, and I moved him onto the ground where I could control him better. His arm came across the back of my neck. Other officers immediately arrived…then we started the place in custody, put handcuffs on him…”
Mr. Taebel was also making grunting noises.
At this point in court, Mr. Taebel stated that he wanted to fire his attorney and represent himself. The judge shut him down.
High-Speed Police Chase
Before this Taylor Swift incident, his most high-profile incident involved Mr. Taebel being charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, unlawful flight from a law enforcement vehicle, and endangerment in Arizona.
I wrote about that incident in my book:
Here is Mr. Taebel at his “press conference:”
It appears as though those charges were dismissed due to mental incompetence:
The medical reports about his mental incompetence appear to be sealed.
More generally, court records indicate that he underwent the “Rule 11” process which means that a criminal case cannot be resolved when a defendant has been deemed incompetent to make legal decisions. Once the defendant is restored competency, the legal process will resume.
In cases where a defendant’s competency cannot be restored after 21 months of treatment, at that point, they may be remanded to the Department of Health Services. The State could then begin civil commitment proceedings, dismiss the charges, or appoint a guardian.
His charges were dismissed due to mental incompetence but whether a guardian was appointed to him is not clear. It would seem not to be the case but because records are sealed, it is difficult to know.
In reading other court records, there seem to be other arrest incidents from New York, but I will have to keep digging to learn more.
A review of his social media indicates that he is obsessed with Taylor Swift. For instance, on his Instagram page, he announces that he and Taylor Swift “must get married immediately.” He has created a playlist on his YouTube channel and was attempting to alert the media about the upcoming marriage between the two.
People have found his social media and are leaving him nasty messages. He sounds very disorganized in his speech (at least in Instagram posts) and thought process. He could have been experiencing a manic and or psychotic episode of some kind.
In one post, he said he would execute people on national TV if he and Swift were not married. He would execute the “fuck” out of the people he mentioned he wanted to execute. His tirades very often do not make sense:
What I would like to know is why he has so many followers on social media. On his Instagram alone, he has over 766K followers. I don’t know if that happened after his arrest or not.
Mr. Taebel appears to struggle with serious mental health problems. We can only hope that he gets the help he needs at this time and that Ms. Swift will no longer be terrorized by him.
The temporary restraining order filed by Ms. Swift’s people did not seem to matter to him. It did not stop him from harassing her, the people who work for her, and members of her family. For the safety of all involved, I hope this matter can be resolved without anyone getting hurt.