A University of Florida senior jailed on a charge of sexually assaulting a fellow student was released last week after a judge agreed he was a “high-achieving student.”
Ian Milaski, a 21-year-old resident hall assistant, was arrested on Aug. 29, after a female student called university police and accused Milaski of forcibly kissing her, pinning her onto his bed and attempting to put his fingers inside her days earlier. Milaski was jailed on charges of battery and false imprisonment, with bond set at $125,000.
A judge later ordered him released on his own recognizance, agreeing with an emergency defense motion that described Milaski as a “high-achieving student,” according to local outlet WCJB. The bail-reduction motion said Milaski is “slated to graduated in May 2020″ with a double major, and “personally performed more than 210 hours of community service in the last two years.”
Milaski’s motion also argued that he needed to help his parents prepare for Hurricane Dorian and tend to his double major as a senior about to graduate, according to The Alligator, the UF student newspaper.
The woman, identified only as a UF sophomore, told officers that Milaski called her drunkenly and said he needed water on the night of Aug. 25, according to a police report. She said she walked Milaski back to his room, but he kept trying to make out with her despite her protests. After she continued to refuse his advances, he reportedly grabbed her by the wrists and said, “I want to sleep with you.”
When the woman tried to leave Milaski’s room, he grabbed her, picked her off the floor and pinned her on his bed, where he attempted to “finger her” through her underwear, according to the police report, obtained by NBC-2.
The young woman told police she eventually escaped and returned to her dorm room. Later that night, she awoke in her bed and found Milaski trying to lie next to her. A friend of the woman who had been sleeping in the dorm room woke up from the commotion and yelled at Milaski to leave, according to the report.
Milaski’s bail motion explained the incident as a “misunderstanding among platonic friends fueled by alcohol,” the Alligator reported.
The judge, whose name isn’t mentioned in local news reports about the case, ordered Milaski to have no contact with the victim and banned him from returning to Sarasota and Alachua counties, where the university is located, except for court appointments or events related to school, including classes.
Milaski also was ordered to wear a GPS monitor. No date has been set for his next court appearance.
CLARIFICATION: An earlier version said the judge had deemed Milaski a “high-achieving student.” This article has been updated to better reflect that the judge agreed with a defense motion to reduce bond that described Milaski as “high achieving.”