The newest “Bachelorette” winner Devin Strader was arrested seven years before the show’s most recent season, in which he won and briefly got engaged to lead Jenn Tran.
RealitySteve, who reports on Bachelor Nation news, published an affidavit reportedly from Strader’s arrest warrant on one felony count of “simple burglary of an inhabited dwelling.” In the legal docs filed by an unnamed ex-girlfriend on March 19, 2017 and attached to the published arrest warrant, she alleged that while she was out of town, her house was broken into and a diamond necklace he had gifted her was stolen. Variety has separately verified the affidavit.
She also alleged that Strader previously came to her house multiple times, banging on the door and screaming at her. According to the affidavit, on March 22, 2017, she filed a restraining order. “[Strader] made a fire out in the street with what appeared to be the actual restraining order. She also had a tire flattened in her vehicle and when it was getting changed, [Strader] came outside and began laughing at her,” the affidavit alleged.
Strader did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
While the burglary arrest affidavit was public record, the restraining order with any details was sealed. Entertainment Weekly has since unveiled that order, in which the ex-girlfriend claims Strader “spit on me and threw his drink on me at Pelicans game in front of everyone in the crowd” as well as “put me in a chokehold covering my mouth.”
Following his arrest on burglary charges, according to Entertainment Weekly, Strader pleaded guilty to charges of criminal trespass and simple criminal damage to property of less than $500, receiving one year of unsupervised probation.
ABC and Warner Bros., the production company behind the series, declined to comment on the show’s vetting process. However, a source close to production tells Variety, “We take the safety of our contestants very seriously and make every effort to conduct thorough diligence. As exhaustive as our vetting process is, this protective order did not surface in our searches.”
Disney
The process of background checks on reality TV has become a bigger question through the years; Lincoln Adim, one of the contestants on Becca Kufrin’s 2018 season of “The Bachelorette,” had been arrested for indecent assault and battery two years prior. At the time, Warner Bros. asserted that the production was unaware of any incident or charges.
Tran proposed to Strader on the recent finale of “The Bachelorette,” which aired on Sept. 3, only to reveal on the after-show that he broke it off with her shortly after and told her his feelings had changed. He later tried to defend himself in a 13-minute Instagram video, revealing private messages between he and Tran, which has since been deleted.
Tran will make her debut on Tuesday night’s premiere of “Dancing With the Stars.”
Source Agencies
