Skip to main content

90 Day Fiancé star Geoffrey Paschel is facing between 8 and 30 years in prison as a result of the charges laid out against him during his most recent trial. Fans were not fond of Paschel from the start, and the uproar they raised about the accusations against him meant he was removed from the TLC finale for the show. Now, Corey Rathgeber is claiming TLC does background checks before the show, leaving some wondering what happened. 

Does TLC do background checks? Corey Rathgeber says yes

Geoffrey Paschel and Varya Malina taking a selfie together in Russia on '90 Day Fiancé'
Geoffrey Paschel and Varya Malina on ’90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days’ Season 4 | TLC

Geoffrey Paschel is just one of several 90 Day Fiancé stars with a criminal history. Paschel, along with other stars with criminal histories, have left some fans wondering whether or not TLC does anything to vet their cast members beforehand. 

Corey Rathgeber, since hearing of Paschel’s trial and subsequent guilty verdict, claims that 90 Day Fiancé does include background checks. 

“I’m actually surprised they let him on 90 Day Fiancé. They do extensive background checks,” Rathgeber claimed on blogger John Yates’ Instagram post. 

90 Day Fiancé cast member Paul Staehle has also previously claimed that TLC performs a rigorous background check on new cast members.

“So then they ran my criminal background check, that came back with a lot of questions. So production and TLC both did a very thorough background check on me,” Paul previously said on Facebook. 

“They asked me a lot of questions in regards to it, they did their own investigation — I think it was like a week [that] they had to go through everything because it takes a little bit of time to actually pull up court documents and see exactly what happened, statements from people, what happened with situations. So TLC especially takes that very seriously,” he added. 

Geoffrey Paschel found guilty of three charges

When fans found out that Geoffrey Paschel stood accused of domestic violence by an ex-girlfriend, they started a Change.org petition to have him removed from 90 Day Fiancé. Paschel was denied an appearance on the show’s finale, and railed against this on Instagram and The Domenick Nati Show on YouTube. 

Now, Paschel’s guilty verdict is official, no matter how much he might like to pretend there’s a conspiracy against him. Paschel was found guilty of three charges — aggravated kidnapping, domestic assault, and interfering with an emergency call. 

Paschel assaulted his ex-girlfriend, Kristen Chapman, after a dinner date. Kristen explained during the trial that Paschel grabber her head and slammed her face into the floor multiple times, resulting in a concussion. He also dragged her by the back of the neck upstairs and took her phone from her so she could not call for help. 

When Paschel eventually fell asleep, Kristen ran to a neighbor’s house where she hid until police arrived. Upon his arrest, Paschel tried to kick out the police car windows. 

Mary Wallace was present at the trial

Geoffrey Paschel and Mary Wallace kissing on '90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days'
Geoffrey Paschel and Mary Wallace on ’90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days’ | TLC
Related

‘90 Day Fiancé’ Geoffrey Paschel Turned Down a Plea Deal That Could Have Kept Him Out of Jail

Geoffrey Paschel’s ex-girlfriend, Mary Wallace, was seen crying during his trial. Wallace and Geoffrey had a brief relationship — Geoffrey ditched their relationship when Varya Malina came back to him on 90 Day Fiancé. 

Mary was crying and appeared to try and talk to Paschel as he was being led away following the trial verdict. It remains unclear what the current nature of Paschel’s relationship with Mary is at this time. 

How to get help: In the U.S., call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or text START to 88788.

Best in Entertainment