Elijah Allman, the 49-year-old son of Cher and the late Gregg Allman, was arrested by Windham police on Sunday after they allegedly found him inside a local home where he had no permission to be. He was charged with burglary, criminal mischief, and breach of bail.
It was his second arrest in the state in a three-day span.
Allman was arraigned on Monday and held on preventative detention. Attorney information for Allman was not available in court records, and a representative for Cher was not immediately available.
The arrest came just two days after Concord police responded to reports that Allman was disturbing people in the dining hall of St. Paul's School, the elite New Hampshire private school with which he has no association. That incident occurred at about 7 p.m. on Friday.
Police charged him with four misdemeanors:
According to NBC News, He was also charged with a violation of disorderly conduct, which is illegal in the state but not considered a crime. He was released on bail as his case worked through the court system.
That bail didn't hold him long.
By Sunday, Allman had allegedly broken into a Windham home and was charged with breach of bail, in addition to burglary and criminal mischief. A man released on bail for acting belligerently at a private school dining hall, allegedly escalating to breaking into someone's home 48 hours later. The court, at least this time, responded by holding him on preventative detention rather than sending him back out.
The details here are thin, but the pattern is familiar to anyone who has watched the American bail system operate in recent years. A suspect is charged, released, and promptly re-offends. The cycle repeats until the charges become serious enough, or the public outcry loud enough, that a judge finally puts the brakes on. Whether Allman's case involves substance abuse, mental health struggles, or something else entirely is unknown from the available record. What is known is that the release on Friday led directly to another arrest on Sunday.
This is the conversation conservatives have been trying to force into the mainstream for years. Bail exists to ensure court appearances and protect public safety. When it functions as a speed bump rather than a guardrail, communities pay the price. A homeowner in Windham discovered a stranger inside their house this weekend. That person should never have been in that position.
If Elijah Allman were not the son of one of the most famous women in entertainment, this story would be a local police blotter item. A 49-year-old Malibu resident causing a disturbance at a New Hampshire prep school, then allegedly burglarizing a home two days later, would warrant a few paragraphs in the Union Leader and nothing more.
But the celebrity angle cuts both ways. It draws attention to a case that illustrates real systemic problems. It also raises the question every American instinctively asks: would a regular person, with no famous parent and no Malibu address, have been released on bail after that Friday incident? Or would the book have been heavier from the start?
The justice system is supposed to be blind. Sometimes it takes a famous name to remind people how often it isn't.
Allman remains in custody. The courts will sort out the rest. But somewhere in Windham, a homeowner is dealing with the aftermath of a break-in that didn't have to happen.