by Alec Williams
A former Colorado Mesa University football player, William Milo, 22, will be due in court on Jan. 19, facing second-degree assault and tampering with a witness or victim charges.
Grand Junction police contend there is probable cause to believe that on Oct. 29, Milo assaulted and broke the jaw of a 20-year-old after a night of drinking.
While at St. Mary’s Hospital, the victim told police he was picking up his girlfriend that night “when the suspect started harassing his girlfriend,” the arrest affidavit for Milo said. “[The victim] stated out of nowhere the suspect punched him in the face causing him to nearly lose consciousness.”
The victim, who said he does not know Milo personally, and multiple other witnesses confirmed Milo’s identity using his football roster photo on the CMU website, according to the arrest affidavit. Despite this, Milo continued to deny his involvement in the crime and repeatedly changed his story of the night in question.
Milo’s phone, voluntarily released to police, revealed conversations they believe confirm his alleged involvement in the crime.
“Why the Feds looking for me lol,” Milo texted a friend.
“Cause you broke that n***** jaw and he wants to press charge[s],” his friend replied.
Later in the conversation, Milo threatened to “have someone else break his jaw again” and put the victim back in the hospital if the case moved forward.
Another conversation between Milo and a witness appears to show Milo forming an alibi for the night of the incident.
“So I talk to the police and s*** so they gonna come ask y’all if I was with y’all and s*** so be ready lol,” Milo texted.
“Okay how late do I say you were with us,” the witness replied in a text.
Milo told them “2” and the witness replied “Okay they called us and we talked to them. we said we were with you guys all night,” in a later text.
The text conversations allowed police to file a warrant for Milo’s arrest on Nov. 29.
CMU Vice President John Marshall confirmed the university is currently conducting an internal investigation into the incident to determine their response, but Milo is expected to return to campus for the spring semester.
“We try to provide a student pathway back [to school] while we’re on parallel tracks in terms of both investigating and then ultimately holding [the student] accountable,” Marshall said.
Marshall confirmed that Milo has worked in CMU President Tim Foster’s office, but does not believe it will impact the outcome of the university’s investigation.
Milo, a defensive nose tackle voted preseason defensive player of the year by the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, was ineligible to play on the CMU football team for the 2016 season concerning academic reasons unrelated to the recent criminal allegations.
Marshall believes Milo’s future eligibility for the football team will be based academically, and after CMU athletics considers this incident.
