Tom Cruise Obtains Restraining Order From Yet Another Threatening Superfan

Valkyrie star/BlackBerry misplacer Tom Cruise has obtained a restraining order against a military vet who’s been showing up at his home:

The vet is 28-year-old Edward Van Tassel, who first showed up to his Beverly Hills estate on Dec. 3, saying he wanted to speak to the star. He was sent away, then returned a few hours later. He came back four days after that, at 5 a.m., at which point Cruise’s security called the police. When they showed up, he resisted arrest, and they found a notebook on him containing—and this is where it gets sad—a letter addressed to Cruise explaining how his movies helped him get through his stint in the military.

This wasn’t Van Tassel’s first arrest:

Before winding up at Cruise’s home, Van Tassel had been facing charges for two previous incidents.

First, in a misguided Halloween stunt, he turned up at a Santa Barbara radio station wearing fatigues and a mask, and packing a gun. Three days later, he took over a freeway overpass in an effort to protest the Iraq war, causing a traffic jam.

This isn’t the greatest time for militaristic types to be bum-rushing Tom’s favourite hangouts, considering the recent samurai shooting at the Scientology Celebrity Centre. (It bears noting the samurai in question, Mario Marjorski, bears a passing, crazy-eyed resemblance to Van Tassel.) We can only hope every measure is taken to ensure Van Tassel is kept away from Valkyrie, as the last thing he needs is to be inspired by his hero into single-handedly ridding the world of a power-mad evil, regardless of how well-meaning his efforts at permanently silencing Matt Lauer might have seemed at the time.

• Tom Cruise Banishes “Threatening” Fan [E! Online]