California Court Grants Apple CEO Tim Cook Restraining Order Against Alleged Stalker

A California court has reportedly ordered a man to stay away from Apple CEO Tim Cook after the company accused him of stalking the tech boss.

According to a report from Business Insider, court reports and records show Apple won a temporary restraining order last week against Rakesh “Rocky” Sharma of San Francisco, who allegedly left flowers and champagne at Cook’s Silicon Valley property and tried to show him racy photos on Twitter.

According to the restraining order, which was granted on February 13 in Santa Clara County Superior Court, Sharma must stay at least 200 yards away from Cook and his Palo Alto home, and Apple’s Apple Park headquarters in Cupertino. Sharma is alleged to have left several threatening voicemails against Cook and Apple, posted sexual photos on Twitter in which he tagged Cook in the photos, and on occasions in December 2019 and January of this year, trespassed on the grounds of Cook’s home.

Sharma reportedly entered Cook’s property through a closed gate without permission at around 10:30 p.m. on Dec. 4 in an effort to deliver the flowers and champagne, a filing said. “Shortly thereafter, Mr. Sharma continued to tag the Apple executive on his Twitter account, which included sexualized and inappropriate photos of Mr. Sharma with reference to the Apple executive,” it said.

Sharma returned to Cook’s home on January 15 but left before the Palo Alto Police Department arrived, Burns said.

“Mr. Sharma’s continuous and increasingly threatening conduct is causing me and other Apple employees significant emotional distress and gives me grave concern for our personal safety,” Burns said.

A hearing on the matter was set for March 3. Apple has not commented on the matter.