A Florida judge issued a restraining order Tuesday against Republican Rep. Cory Mills of Florida for "protection against dating violence" after his ex-girlfriend accused him of threatening and harassing her.
In a petition filed in August, Lindsey Langston alleged that after they broke up, Mills threatened to blackmail her using nude images and videos and to physically harm anyone she dated.
“Cory continued to message me on Instagram accounts I run after blocking him and asking him to not contact me. The messages progressively got more threatening over time,” wrote Langston, a Republican state committeewoman and Miss United States 2024.
Tuesday's restraining order, issued by state Circuit Judge Fred Koberlein Jr. in Columbia County, prohibits Mills from acts of violence against Langston and bars him from contacting her until Jan. 1.
Mills cannot “directly refer to Petitioner on social media, including but not limited to, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, TikTok, or any other social media platform,” the order says.
Langston's attorney, Bobi Frank, declined to comment. Mills' congressional office and his lawyer did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
Langston alleged in a police report filed with Florida authorities in July that Mills had repeatedly contacted her after their split. The complaint was referred to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which confirmed that it received the referral from the sheriff’s office in August but declined to comment on the investigation.
Mills is alleged to have sent a series of harassing communications to Langston in May and June, which are cited in the judgment, including a message he wrote to Langston on May 15 that she "may want to tell every guy you date that if we run into each other at any point. Strap up cowboy[.]"
He also threatened in another message the same day to share videos of Langston, writing, “I can send him a few videos of you as well[.] Oh, I still have them[.],” according to the judgment.
Koberlein's judgment also said Mills ignored 11 separate requests from Langston to leave her alone and detailed some of Mills' testimony at a hearing last month.
According to Koberlein, Mills testified that efforts to contact Langston stemmed from trying to determine whether he and Langston were reconciling or splitting up.
Koberlein wrote that Mills also claimed during the hearing that he was only referring to the possibility of sending out nonsexual videos of Langston and said he had deleted any intimate videos of her.
Koberlein wrote that he doubted the veracity of Mills' testimony.
"Even had the Respondent’s testimony been truthful, his response is irrelevant because there was no evidence presented suggesting the Petitioner knew the Respondent no longer had possession of their intimate videos," Koberlein wrote.
It's not the first time Mills, who has represented Florida’s 7th Congressional District since January 2023, has faced legal trouble this year.
Police opened an investigation in February over a report of an alleged assault at an apartment building on the same block as the property where Mills faces eviction. Mills’ office said he “vehemently” denied any wrongdoing, and a police spokesperson said at the time that Mills was not arrested and that no charges had been filed.
He also separately faced an eviction lawsuit over the summer in Washington, D.C., after a property management company accused him of owing $85,000 in unpaid rent. Mills told The Daytona Beach News-Journal in August that he was no longer facing eviction for missed rent, telling the paper, "All is paid."
