Soon after celebrity chef Justin Sutherland was charged Friday with violating a domestic abuse no-contact order, he pleaded guilty.

The woman who is the subject of the order and Sutherland “are in a long-term loving relationship,” and she showed up at his house Thursday because she was upset about her family member being admitted to the hospital and she wanted to talk, said Sutherland’s attorney, John Daly.

“He didn’t think it was a good idea for her to be at his house” because of the no-contact order, Daly said. “He obviously should have just said, ‘I can’t talk to you right now,’ but he was headed to Target, so he invited her to come along with him. He was consoling her and talking to her.”

The St. Paul City Attorney’s Office filed the gross misdemeanor charge against the 40-year-old after an officer working at Target in St. Paul’s Midway area saw Sutherland enter the store Thursday with the woman he’s prohibited from having contact with, according to a criminal complaint.

Police initially arrested Sutherland on June 28 in St. Paul following the second of two domestic violence-related police calls that evening. During an argument with his girlfriend, Sutherland strangled her, pointed a gun at her and threatened to kill her, according to the criminal complaint in that case.

Sutherland pleaded guilty Monday to a felony charge of threats of violence against the woman.

When Sutherland was charged, a judge issued a domestic abuse no-contact order in the matter, which is standard in such cases. The woman’s request to have the protective order lifted was noted in court, but the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office opposed it and requested it remain in place, as part of the plea deal, at least until sentencing in December, which a judge agreed to, according to Dennis Gerhardstein, county attorney’s office spokesman.

After the officer saw Sutherland on Thursday, he confirmed the order was active. He saw Sutherland and the woman leave the University Avenue store, enter a vehicle and drive away. He notified other officers.

Another officer found the vehicle parked outside the nearby Spirit Halloween store, went inside and “immediately observed” Sutherland and the woman walking together, the current complaint says. Police arrested Sutherland for violating the no-contact order and he was booked into the Ramsey County jail.

The situation Thursday “wasn’t violent in nature” and Sutherland entered into a plea deal for 16 days of electronic home monitoring, Daly said. He’ll be sentenced in December, at the same time as the felony sentencing. It will be up to the judge to decide whether to accept the plea deal in the felony, in light of the new charge, Gerhardstein said.

Since he was charged in June, “Justin has done a lot to improve himself, including treatment” for alcohol use, Daly said, adding that the treatment center had an anger management component. “… I think the big concern here was Justin gets sober and starts doing the right things, which he’s done. He just made the mistake of being there for her when she showed up at his house and not telling her to go away.”

Daly said the woman previously requested the protective order be lifted. She stated “she wasn’t afraid of him and wanted contact,” according to Daly.

The plea deal in the felony calls for two years’ probation, 100 hours of community service, a chemical dependency evaluation and a ban on owning any firearms, in lieu of a 360-day sentence.

The St. Paul chef has been featured on “Iron Chef,” “Fast Foodies,” “Top Chef,” “Taste the Culture,” as a judge on several other food-focused TV shows and on talk shows such as “Good Morning America.” He is a Food Network “Iron Chef” winner and season finalist on “Top Chef.” He also is the author of a cookbook, “Northern Soul,” and won an Emmy for “Taste the Culture.”