Corey Clark Of American Idol Charged With Aggravated Harassment
Corey Clark, a Season 2 American Idol contestant, was arrested on Wednesday night for felony aggravated harassment against his estranged wife. The singer is accused of violating court orders that prohibit him from contacting his wife in person.
Billboard reports that Clark, 35, was arrested on Wednesday night and booked into the Yuma County Detention Center, in Yuma, Arizona, the following day. Clark was incarcerated not only for felony aggravated harassment, but also for failure to comply with court orders, a misdemeanor.
Per the Yuma County arrest report, Clark allegedly violated his court-appointed protective order that mandates that the singer can only communicate with his estranged wife, Monica Rodriguez Gonzalez Clark, via email, and only when it concerns their children.
According to Monica, Clark began emailing her and questioning her about her new relationship, a direct violation of the protective order. She pointed out that she ignored Clark’s emails, which reportedly led to him following her to a restaurant on September 17, and glaring at her as she ate dinner. Afterwards, Clark allegedly yelled at a male who accompanied Monica to dinner.
This isn’t the first time Clark has faced criminal charges. The Yuma County Superior Court records indicate that singer has several misdemeanors and a few felonies on his record. Additionally, he was booted from American Idol in 2003 after failing to disclose his past arrest record.
His dismissal from American Idol, along with an alleged affair he had with Paula Abdul, a former host of the show, led to Clark filing a 44-page complaint in 2013, years after FOX cleared Abdul from doing anything wrong or illegal with Clark.
Yet, Clark claimed that he felt violated and defamed. The complaint, filed against Fox, E! Entertainment, and two law firms, states that an American Idol attorney threatened to sue him for $5 million after he proposed to publish his book, They Told Me to Tell the Truth, So…(The Sex, Lies and Paulatics of One of America’s Idols).
Clark also indicated in the complaint that due to the public shaming he endured from American Idol, his career plummeted and his record label began ignoring him. He revealed that people shamed him and spit on him in public, and that he was eventually evicted from his home and began living on food stamps. This year, a district court dismissed the singer’s complaints.
Corey Clark posted $20,000 bail and was released from jail, but he’s expected to return to the Yuma Justice Court on Monday, where he will learn if he’ll be charged with any other offenses.
[Photos Courtesy of Yuma County Sheriff’s Office & Michel Boutefeu/Getty Images]
