A University of North Carolina men's soccer player has been arrested for the second time in less than two months on a misdemeanor charge of violating a domestic violence protective order, and he is no longer taking part in team activities. Cristian Milazzo was taken into custody Wednesday after an arrest warrant alleged he drove past the victim and into the vicinity of her residence, breaking the terms of a court order meant to keep him away from her.
According to The Daily Tar Heel, Chapel Hill Police served Milazzo with the warrant Wednesday morning before taking him to the Orange County Detention Center in Hillsborough. A judge released him on a $2,500 unsecured bond and ordered him to have absolutely no contact whatsoever with the victim. His next court appearance in Orange County District Court is scheduled for Nov. 5, as reported by WRAL News.
UNC men's soccer head coach Carlos Somoano confirmed that Milazzo has been sidelined. “Milazzo is not participating in team activities until further notice,” Somoano said, per the same Daily Tar Heel report. The outlet also noted that Milazzo's player page appeared to be removed from the UNC athletics website, according to WRAL's reporting.
A Second Violation in as Many Months
This is not Milazzo's first run-in with the protective order. He was previously charged in late August with violating the order by coming onto UNC's campus and within 1,000 feet of the victim, according to WRAL's reporting. That prosecution was deferred, and the station reported the deferral was conditioned on Milazzo not attempting to assault, harass, or intimidate the victim and completing a mental health evaluation.
The Daily Tar Heel's earlier coverage adds further detail: the prosecution of the August charge was deferred, and Milazzo was placed on 12 months of unsupervised probation on Sept. 3. A condition of that probation barred him from violating the protective order, which itself prohibits him from coming within 500 feet of the victim or showing up at her residence or workplace.
The protective order traces back even further. An ex parte domestic violence protective order was first issued against Milazzo on Aug. 24, following allegations of months of online and in-person stalking, the Daily Tar Heel reported. Two days later, on Aug. 26, Milazzo allegedly violated the order's 1,000-foot restriction, triggering the first arrest. The order has since been extended through Sept. 3, 2027, with the narrower 500-foot buffer now in place.
UNC Athletics Stays Quiet
A spokesman for the UNC athletic department declined to comment on Milazzo's status, citing federal student privacy laws, the Daily Tar Heel reported in its earlier coverage of the case. WRAL News reported that it reached out to the law firm that previously represented Milazzo on his earlier charges but had not heard back.
What North Carolina Law Says
Under North Carolina's domestic violence statutes, found in Chapter 50B of the General Statutes, knowingly violating a valid protective order is generally treated as a Class A1 misdemeanor, according to the UNC School of Government. State law also establishes four separate felony offenses tied to protective-order violations, the School of Government notes. The underlying statute, G.S. 50B-4.1, is titled Violation of Valid Protective Order, according to the North Carolina General Assembly, though the full penalty language was not available for review.
For now, Milazzo remains out of team activities with his case pending, and his Nov. 5 court date will mark the next formal step in a legal process that has already stretched across two separate arrests since August.
