Ex-Rutgers Footballer Charged With Violating Restraining Order

NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ — A former Rutgers University football player, who was already accused of plotting to kill his ex-girlfriend's parents in an attempt to win her back, was arrested anew Thursday of this week and charged with violating a restraining order.

Izaia Bullock, 22, a one-time New Jersey high school football star, was first arrested this past fall after Rutgers University police and the Middlesex County prosecutor say that he devised a plot to murder his ex-girlfriend's parents in an attempt to win her affections back, MyCentralJersey reported.

After he was arrested, Bullock was ordered by a Middlesex County superior court judge to not have any oral, written, personal, electronic, or other form of contact or communication with his ex.

However, police say that on Dec. 26 Bullock contacted the young woman via a group text message. He has previously been charged with two counts of attempted murder in the first degree and two counts of conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree. Then on November 1, Bullock was charged with one count of cyber harassment connected to that case.

The cyber harassment charged stemmed from Bullock allegedly threatening to share private photos of his ex-girlfriend with her boss, MyCentralJersey reported.

When Bullock was first arrested, Rutgers head coach Chris Ash kicked him off the Scarlet Knights football team. He was kicked out of Rutgers a few days later.

Bullock once had a promising football career ahead of him: He played linebacker and running back at Linden High School and was named first team all-Mid-State Watchung Division on defense. At Rutgers, he was a labor and employment relations major.

Prior to playing for Rutgers, Bullock took courses at the Middlesex County Community College in Edison, where he once told his journalism professor that playing college football was his dream.

"After he graduated, he wrote me an email and let me know that he had realized his dream," journalism professor Melissa Edwards told USA Today after his arrest in October.

This is yet another black eye for the Rutgers football program, and a scandal entirely separate from the ring of eight Rutgers football players who were charged with credit card fraud. In that incident, eight RU players were indicted Dec. 5 of this year for running a credit card fraud ring.

Those eight players are: Malik Vaccaro-Dixon, Kai "K.J.'' Gray, Edwin Lopez, Kwabena "Kobe" Marfo, Syhiem Simmons, Christian "C.J.'' Onyechi, Naijee Jones and linebacker Brendan DeVera.

The alleged thefts occurred in the spring of 2018. The Middlesex County prosecutor's office says the players used the dark web to obtain credit card numbers and then transferred money to their Rutgers Express debit-card accounts. The transfers were done in small amounts, ranging from $200 to $800 at a time, prosecutors said. In total, $11,450 was stolen from various victims.

Gray and DeVera were named as the ringleaders in the theft ring, and they were the two players dismissed from the team. The other six were all suspended and there is a chance they could play again in the 2019 season.

Rutgers football just wrapped up an incredibly dismal 1-11 2018 season.

Bullock is being held at the Middlesex County Adult Correction Center pending a court appearance scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Friday.

Past Patch reporting on arrests on the Rutgers football team: 8 Rutgers Football Players Indicted For Credit Card Fraud

Rutgers Player Planned Double-Murder Of Family Members: MCPO

Photo of Izaia Bullock via Rutgers University.