Alleged ‘bath salts’ attacker must stay away from woman, court says

A 20-year-old Glendale man has been ordered to stay away from the 77-year-old woman he allegedly attacked with a shovel while reportedly high on the synthetic drug known as "bath salts."

Robert White, who was released from jail on a bond, appeared Wednesday in a Los Angeles County Superior Courtroom in Burbank clean-shaven and in business attire as the judge signed off on the protective order forbidding him from contacting the woman, who was treated for non-life-threatening injuries after the alleged attack on June 21.

White has pleaded not guilty to two felony counts of first-degree burglary and assault with a deadly weapon in connection with an alleged illegal entry into the woman's apartment and threat to kill her, the Glendale News-Press reported.

After White allegedly attacked and struck the woman on her head with the shovel, he barricaded himself inside his apartment on the 1000 block of Spazier Avenue, police said.

White had been swinging a shovel at birds when the woman had approached and told him to stop, police said.

After the brief stand-off at White's apartment, officers eventually fired a rubber bullet and Taser to subdue him. He was carried out of the apartment complex — handcuffed to a chair — by police officers and paramedics as he yelled "God loves all of you" to bystanders.

At the hospital, he allegedly told police that he drank a combination of soda and "bath salts" earlier that day, authorities said.

"Bath salts" contain psychoactive chemicals that "cause chest pains, increased blood pressure, increased heart rate, agitation, hallucinations, extreme paranoia, and delusions," according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

White is due back court on Aug. 28.

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-- Veronica Rocha, Times Community News

Photo: Robert William White yells to onlookers as he is wheeled out of an apartment he barricaded himself in after allegedly assaulting a 77-year-old woman with a shovel. Credit: Tim Berger / Times Community News