MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – A man came to South Florida from the Lone Star State to stalk Colombian pop star Shakira and police arrested him outside of her bayfront home in Miami Beach, sources tell Local 10 News.
According to an arrest report, Daniel John Valtier, 56, of El Paso, Texas, pulled up to her home in a taxi just after midnight Monday.
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The singer’s security director told police that Valtier had made a series of posts around the new year claiming to be married to Shakira, whose full name is Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll, and saying the two were about to go into business together.
Police said he also claimed to know her children and “had a relationship with them.” An arrest report states that Valtier sent packages to the mansion, including wine bottles, gifts and toys.
Shakira’s security team had monitored Valtier and told him to stop sending gifts and posting false information, the arrest report states, but on Jan. 3, they were “alarmed” to see the suspect post a business card from a hotel in Florida’s Panhandle, claiming he was coming to her house.
Authorities arrested Valtier on charges of misdemeanor stalking and hiring a vehicle with intent to defraud.
The latter charge stems from the suspect failing to pay his $70 cab fare, according to police. The arrest report states that he told officers that the homeowner — presumably Shakira — was going to pay the fare.
Valtier was being held in Miami-Dade’s Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $2,500 bond for the vehicle hire charge. Jail records listed his bond in the stalking case as “to be set.”