<p>NEW YORK — A stalker who claims pop star Taylor Swift is communicating with him on social media was arrested on a trespassing charge after trying to break into the singer’s Manhattan apartment, police said Monday.</p>
<p>Hanks Johnson, 52, was arrested at 8:30 p.m. Saturday after a 911 caller reported he was inside Swift’s Tribeca building without permission, a police spokesperson said.</p>
<p>Johnson was charged with criminal trespass and released on his own recognizance after an arraignment Sunday night. It wasn’t clear if he had an attorney who could comment.</p>
<p>The Daily News <a href="https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/ny-taylor-swift-attempted-break-in-apartment-tribeca-arrest-20210418-fgxn6xhbejdopmsepxu75lge4i-story.html">reports</a> that outside the courthouse, Johnson made a show of sending direct messages to Swift’s Instagram account and claimed the predictive text suggestions on his phone were replies from her.</p>
<p>He also showed off a restraining order barring him from contacting models Bella and Gigi Hadid, who are friends of Swift’s, the newspaper said.</p>
<p>Swift, who is back at the top of the charts with her <a href="https://apnews.com/article/taylor-swift-redoing-fearless-album-127eefa2a3ef3373e65507495f50145c"> rerecording</a> of 2008’s “Fearless,” has been plagued over the years by <a href="https://apnews.com/article/d84bcb7c46244394901aa927d8e3b7a2"> stalkers</a> at her homes on both coasts. A different man was arrested for breaking into her New York apartment in 2018 and taking a nap, police said.</p>
