‘The Bachelorette’ Winner Devin Strader Allegedly Put Ex-Girlfriend ‘in a Chokehold,’ Per Restraining Order Filing

Bachelorette Jenn Tran’s former fiancé, Devin Strader, was arrested seven years prior to his appearance on the ABC dating show. Strader, 28, was arrested after allegedly burglarizing an ex-girlfriend’s Louisiana home, public arrest records show, and that ex would go on to file a restraining order against him, per an affidavit obtained by Entertainment Weekly.

In 2017, Strader’s ex told an officer with the Baton Rouge Police Department that she and Strader had recently broken up. When she returned home from being out of town, she found her house had been burglarized and a diamond necklace Strader had given her had gone missing. 

She also alleged that Strader had “come to her house banging on the door several times and screaming at her,” and revealed that she had since filed a restraining order against him. “Later that evening, [Strader] made a fire out in the street with what appeared to be the actual restraining order,” the affidavit continued. “She also had a tire flattened in her vehicle and when it was getting changed, [Strader] came outside and began laughing at her.”

Strader was then arrested on burglary charges, going on to plead guilty to criminal trespass and simple criminal damage to property of less than $500. He received a year of unsupervised probation for his crimes, and his arrest was public record. 

The Petition for Protection From Abuse filed by Strader’s ex in March 2017 had been previously sealed but was unsealed by Entertainment Weekly. In the restraining order filing, the woman claims Strader “spit on me and threw his drink on me at Pelicans game in front of everyone in the crowd” and “put me in a chokehold covering my mouth.”

Strader and Tran may have gotten engaged in the Season 21 finale of The Bachelorette, but during the After the Final Rose special, he was accused of calling off their relationship, having said he “regretted” the commitment and “was checked out.” He later attempted to defend himself in a 13-minute video that exposed private texts with Tran and has since been deleted.

This is not the first time a contestant with a criminal past has made it through The Bachelorette screening process. In 2018, Lincoln Adim, one of the contestants on Becca Kufrin’s season, was determined to have been arrested for indecent assault and battery for groping a woman prior to his time on the show.