Apple wins restraining order against man accused of stalking gay CEO Tim Cook and sending him nudes
Tim Cook was appoint CEO of Apple Inc in 2011. (Getty)
Tim Cook, Apple CEO, was awarded a restraining order against a man accused of stalking him and making violent threats towards other executives.
Cook reportedly endured months of worry after Rakesh ‘Rocky’ Sharma left “disturbing voicemails” and trespassed on his home in Palo Alto, California.
Sharma reportedly entered the property through a gate without permission and attempted to deliver flowers and a bottle of champagne to Cook, according to a court document obtained by OneZero journalist Dave Gershgorn.
Shortly after the purported incident, said to have taken place on December 4, 2019, Sharma allegedly tagged Cook in Twitter posts “which included sexualised an inappropriate” photos of himself.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has a stalker who has gotten onto his property TWICE and won’t stop contacting him/ other Apple employees, per court filings and a testimony pic.twitter.com/PaQulBpMhu
— Dave Gershgorn (@davegershgorn) February 20, 2020
A month later, on January 15, 2020, he allegedly trespassed on Cook’s home a second time and rang his doorbell.
“The Palo Alto Police Department was contacted, but Sharma had left the property prior before the police arrived,” the testimony says.
Tim Cook ‘stalker’ accused of threatening to have Apple staff shot.
Before trespassing, Sharma had left a number of “disturbing voicemails” for an unnamed Apple executive, it continues.
In one such exchange, Sharma allegedly threatened to shoot Apple employees.
According to the court document, he claimed to know where members of the executive team live, and warned: “I don’t use ammunition but I know people who do.”
Sharma has been ordered to stay away from Cook, his property, the nearby Apple Park headquarters and other Apple executives, according to NBC News.
The restraining order expires on March 3, when a hearing is scheduled. PinkNews has contacted Apple for comment.
Apple CEO gave candid interview about coming out in the middle of ‘stalking’ drama.
Around the time of the first reported break-in, Cook gave a rare, candid interview about his decision to tell the world that he is gay.
He told People en Español that he came out after receiving letters from young LBGT+ people “struggling with their sexual orientation”, some of whom were depressed, rejected by their families and suffering suicidal ideation.
“It weighed on me in terms of what I could do,” he said.
“Obviously I couldn’t talk to each one individually that reached out, but you always know if you have people reaching out to you that there’s many more that don’t, that are just out there wondering whether they have a future or not, wondering whether life gets better.”
Directly addressing those who wrote to him, he continued: “Life gets better.
“You can have a great life filled with joy. Gay is not a limitation. It’s a characteristic that I hope they view, like I do, [as] God’s greatest gift.”
