Two weeks after winning a temporary restraining order against a BuzzFeed journalist who'd been working on a story about them, Dylan and Daniel Hafertepen effectively dropped the issue, leading a King County District Court judge to dismiss their case.
Dylan Hafertepen, known for years online as Noodles and Beef, is the Seattle dom embroiled in controversy over the death of a 28-year-old man, Jack Chapman, who had agreed to refer to Hafertepen as Master Dylan and follow his strict commands. Daniel Hafertepen is believed to be Dylan's husband; public records show the two married in San Francisco in March of 2016.
In Seattle court filings, Daniel claimed that the Buzzfeed reporter, Blake Montgomery, had stalked and harassed the couple at their home in Seattle and that in response "we called the police." BuzzFeed maintained this was simply a case of "a reporter doing his job" and that what happened next was "an outrageous and disproportionate response."
Seattle police who showed up at Dylan and Daniel's residence arrested Montgomery and held him in the King County jail for about 24 hours on suspicion of criminal trespass. Then on November 5, the day Montgomery was released, King County District Court Judge Gregg Hirakawa granted Daniel and Dylan temporary restraining orders against Montgomery.Ā
After The Stranger published a story about the situation, the Seattle Police Department announced it had referred Montgomery's arrest to the Office of Police Accountability for review.
This afternoon at the King County Courthouse in downtown Seattle, District Court Judge Ann Harper repeatedly called out Dylan and Daniel Hafertepen's names in open court but no one answered.
A court official told the judge that a few days ago, one of the men had shown up at the courthouse and asked that the hearing not go forward because, the man claimed, Dylan and Daniel had been unable to serve Montgomery with the required papers.
Montgomery, for his part, did show up in court, along with two lawyers. They all sat calmly as Judge Harper quickly ended the episode.
One of the lawyers noted afterward that Judge Harper had firmly and clearly dismissed the matter.
And Katie Rayford, a spokesperson for BuzzFeed, described Dylan and Daniel's push for a restraining order as an unsuccessful attempt at silencing Montgomery.
āThis restraining order was an intimidation tactic used against a reporter who was simply doing his job," Rayford said. "Weāre glad that good journalism prevailed today.ā
