Fashion designer Bobby Vaughn was arrested at his socialite girlfriend Libbie Mugrabi’s Manhattan townhouse for allegedly splitting her lip with a phone and locking himself in their bedroom – but the couple insists the charges are bogus.
Vaughn, 48, the co-founder of the Von Dutch clothing brand, was charged with assault and harassment after the NYPD responded to a 911 call from Mugrabi’s Upper East Side home around 9 p.m. Sunday and found him “barricaded” inside a bedroom, according to an arrest report.
“The individual pushed the victim, causing the victim’s cellphone in her hand to hit her face,” the report reads.
Vaughn “then barricaded himself in a third floor bedroom for approximately 30 minutes before he surrendered to officers without incident,” the report adds, noting Mugrabi, 43, refused medical attention at the scene.
Mugrabi, a socialite known for her high-flying New York City lifestyle, later claimed the responding officers were “completely brutal,” and that the arrest was based on a misunderstanding and completely unnecessary.
“They asked me to go outside in my underwear. They wouldn’t let me in my bedroom to get my clothes,” she told the Daily Mail. “There were 11 cops in my room and I couldn’t talk to him.”
“I told them everything was okay and it was an accident. He grabbed my phone and I bit my lip. I didn’t know what to do. I never thought they’d arrest him. It’s a false arrest,” she said.
During Vaughn’s arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court on Monday, prosecutors described a chaotic domestic dispute which prompted Mugrabi to call 911 for help, while her boyfriend could be heard in the background yelling at her for doing so.
“[Vaughn] recklessly shoved the victim, causing her to hit her face with her cellphone,” Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Kristin Rainis said, while asking the judge for a protection order against Vaughn, which was granted.
Vaugh’s defense attorney, John Rapawy, reiterated Mugrabi’s stance that the arrest was unnecessary.
“I looked at the domestic assault report and the victim actually refused to sign it,” Rapaway told Judge Steve Statsinger.
“We know that she did not originally cooperate with the police department. She did not cooperate with the DA’s office,” he said, asking instead for a limited protection order.
Vaughn was released without bail and is due back in court Nov. 15.
Mugrabi was at the courthouse during the arraignment but did not join in the courtroom.
The couple left in separate cars, and Mugrabi declined to comment to a Post reporter.
“I still love her. This is stupid, the whole thing,” Vaughn told reporters as he left the hearing.
Asked whether he regretted the incident, he said “I mean, of course, I do.”
The arrest is not Vaughn’s first.
In 2005, he was put away for fatally shooting a friend who attacked him with a broken bottle during an argument.
Vaughn said the killing was an act of self-defense, and a jury later found him not guilty of first-degree murder charges.
Mugrabi is also no stranger to drama.
Just last June, she appeared in Manhattan family court wearing a bulletproof vest while seeking an order of protection against her billionaire ex-husband David Mugrabi – who she alleged had hired Russian hitmen to kill her.
