Andrew Truelove, accused of sneaking into NBC and insulting Craig Melvin with a racial slur, drew six months in prison on a separate probation case.
The 41-year-old appeared Wednesday afternoon in New York Criminal Court in downtown Manhattan wearing a tan jumpsuit and pleaded guilty to violating his probation on multiple third-degree criminal mischief charges from an unrelated case.
Judge Gregory Carro handed down six months in prison plus five years of probation in a hearing that lasted less than 10 minutes. Daily Mail reported Truelove flashed a wide-eyed look and spoke only brief phrases as he acknowledged the plea.
He remains locked up on the separate allegations that matter most to national viewers: two hate crime counts tied to an alleged breach of the iconic NBC building at Rockefeller Center and a racial insult directed at Today co-host Craig Melvin.
Prosecutors say Truelove entered the midtown Manhattan complex around 9 a.m. on the morning of July 16 by trailing an employee who swiped a badge into restricted areas. He allegedly looked first for weather anchor Al Roker, then approached Melvin near Studio 1A.
A criminal complaint cited in coverage alleged Truelove later told Melvin he “always wanted to call a black famous person the n, word.” Melvin, according to that same complaint account, asked whether “that’s what you wanted to get arrested for.”
NBC said “there was no altercation, and no one was injured.” The network added that “TODAY is cooperating fully with law enforcement as they investigate the matter” and that “NBC and TODAY take the safety and security of our employees, talent, staff and guests extremely seriously.” Security protocols were placed under review.
Truelove was arrested at Rockefeller Center that day and has stayed in custody since. He is due back in court November 16 on the two hate crime counts. If convicted on that Melvin-related case, he faces up to 15 years.
Melvin addressed the episode on Instagram shortly afterward and said he was “doing just fine.”
The probation case that produced Wednesday’s sentence grew out of multiple third-degree criminal mischief charges linked to a May 30 incident whose details were not immediately available. Truelove had been arrested July 13 on those mischief charges and released before the alleged NBC entry.
He had already spent six months behind bars on an earlier criminal mischief matter, then received time served and probation in June. After the later probation violation, he was remanded to Rikers Island without bail.
A third open file still waits. Truelove faces a third-degree assault charge with intent to cause physical injury from a case that began in January. He pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to return October 9.
Truelove’s history stretches far beyond Manhattan courtrooms. In 2007 he was convicted in Norfolk, Virginia, of trying to abduct an eight-year-old from a school. That case brought a 10-year prison term with six years suspended and 10 years of probation.
Virginia authorities had also charged him over the years with trespassing, destruction of property, bomb threats, and repeated probation violations. Reporting described roughly two decades of homelessness across California, Florida, Maryland, and Virginia, including stretches sleeping in New York City subway tunnels.
An unnamed half-sister told the Los Angeles Times he did not take schizophrenia medication and was “very sick and very mentally ill.” Legal Aid Society lawyers are representing him; no fresh comment from counsel was recorded after the sentencing.
Today host Savannah Guthrie called Truelove’s actions “incredibly triggering.” Her mother, 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, had been taken from her Tucson, Arizona, home on January 31, a separate episode that framed the co-host’s reaction.
An insider once likened the studio’s usual defenses to “Fort Knox.” The July breach put that claim to a hard test and left network security under fresh scrutiny while the criminal calendar keeps Truelove moving from one docket to the next.
A defendant with a documented trail of violence, property crimes, and probation failures still found open doors, first onto the street after a July arrest, then allegedly into one of television’s best-known buildings. Taxpayers and targets alike keep paying for the gaps.
