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Woman Arrested for Allegedly Stalking, Harassing Yankee GM Brian Cashman February 12, 2012 (Video included)
A woman has been arrested for allegedly harassing and stalking Yankee General Manager Brian Cashman, contact that included hundreds of emails and sometimes more than 10 calls and texts in one night.
Louise Meanwell, 36, who lives in Tribeca but is a British national, was arraigned on charges Thursday in Manhattan Criminal Court. She also goes by the name Louise Neathway.
According to a criminal complaint, Meanwell and Cashman met some time ago and she began contacting him in April 2011, and then again sometime in the fall to ask for $15,000 for a medical procedure.
When Cashman, who is described in the complaint only as "the informant," asked her to stop contacting him, she threatened to slander him in the press, according to the complaint.
Two deposits totaling $6,000 were ultimately made into Meanwell's bank account, the complaint said. On Monday, Cashman received an email from Meanwell stating she would leave him alone if he continued to financially support her medical procedures. Meanwell called Cashman several times up through last week to harass and threaten him, the complaint said. In one voicemail message, Meanwell again threatened to go to the press.
Meanwell's attorney Stephen McCarthy argued at her arraignment the case was that of a "married man who had an inappropriate relationship with a single mother and it ended badly ... and the Manhattan DA's office bought his account of what happened hook, line and sinker."
But prosecutors charged that Meanwell has a history of stalking, sending as many as 200 text messages to a victim per weekend.
Sources told NBC New York she has previously been arrested for similar stalking incidents, including a New Jersey case in 2010 that is still open.
She is accused of second-degree aggravated harassment in that case, which involved a different victim, sources said. She was charged with trespassing, and remains on probation.
She also has two bench warrants for her arrest in upstate New York, prosecutors said at her arraignment.
Meanwell has several aliases and email addresses and often pretends to be an attorney, prosecutors said.
Meanwell's attorney, Stephen McCarthy, described his client as an "upstanding" mother of a 14-year-old son. In a motion for a lower bail amount, McCarthy stated he represented her in the New Jersey case and that she never missed a court date.
Bail for Meanwell was ultimately set at $200,000 cash. Prosecutors had asked for $500,000 bail.
The judge issued an order for protection for Cashman and several people close to him, ordering Meanwell to stay away from the general manager and his wife, from whom he has been separated for over a year, NBC New York has learned. The order also requires her to stay away from Cashman's two young children and two other people.
Cashman's spokesman told NBC New York his client was "very gratified that this matter is in the hands of law enforcement."