Jennifer Lopez's restraining order against fan dismissed by judge

A judge has dismissed Jennifer Lopez' request for a permanent restraining order against an obsessed fan.

The Jenny from the Block singer was granted a temporary restraining order against Timothy McLanahan earlier this month (Jan17) after she claimed he had followed her from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, attended her residency shows there and sent her unwanted mail and flowers.

That order expired and she is now without protection as a judge dismissed her request for a permanent one on Tuesday (24Jan17) because her security team decided to not to show up in court as they hadn't been able to find McLanahan, who is thought to be a transient, to serve him with legal documents, according to TMZ.com.

If they had found McLanahan to serve him, it is likely the judge would have granted the temporary order. Sources have told the website her team will now "escalate the matter" so the singer doesn't go too long without legal protection.

In the original filing, her team claimed McLanahan had previously been arrested for trespassing onto her Los Angeles property and she was fearful for herself and her eight-year-old twins Max and Emme.

Her bodyguard claimed in the documents that the fan had been arrested in the past for threatening behavior and firearm violations.

The judge had previously banned McLanahan from being within 100 yards of Jennifer and her family.

This isn't the first time an obsessed fan has been arrested for trying to get close to Jennifer - in 2013, John M. Dubis was found living in the pool house of her home in the Hamptons in New York. He had been there for several days without getting noticed and was eventually arrested.