Revealed Aug 01, 2024 • Final up to date Aug 02, 2024 • 3 minute learn
James Miller, 59, a former Sarnia resident who now lives in Penticton, B.C., has been charged in Sarnia with historic sexual assault charges, Sarnia police mentioned Thursday. (Fb)
Article content material
A former Sarnia reporter and youth basketball coach who now’s a member of metropolis council in Penticton, B.C., acquired bail Thursday, a couple of hours after Sarnia police mentioned he was charged with sexually assaulting a youth greater than three many years in the past.
This commercial has not loaded but, however your article continues beneath.
Article content material
Article content material
Beneficial Movies
Article content material
Sarnia police mentioned its prison investigations division acquired a grievance earlier this yr from an individual about historic sexual offences from 1989, once they have been a teenager. The accused volunteered as a youth basketball coach on the time, police mentioned.
James (Jim) Miller, 59, of Penticton, has been charged with two counts every of sexual interference and sexual assault on an individual beneath age 16, police mentioned.
Courtroom information present the offences allegedly passed off in Michigan between Jan. 1, 1989, and Dec. 31, 1989.
Miller was acquitted in Sarnia in 2006 of comparable historic charges from the Nineteen Eighties, in line with a number of stories.
He was arrested Thursday on the brand new charges by RCMP in Penticton by way of a Canada-wide warrant, Sarnia police mentioned. Miller, sporting a blue shirt and glasses whereas sitting in a room at an RCMP detachment, appeared in Sarnia bail court docket by video hyperlink, the place he was granted $1,000 bail.
This commercial has not loaded but, however your article continues beneath.
Article content material
He was ordered to dwell in Penticton and notify police if he strikes. He can also’t have any contact with the complainant or be within the direct firm of anybody beneath age 16. Miller, who needed to deposit the $1,000 earlier than he was launched, is due again in court docket on Aug. 14, though his lawyer can characterize him there.
A Penticton metropolis spokesperson mentioned Thursday through electronic mail Miller is on a compulsory depart of absence by way of a bit of B.C.’s Neighborhood Constitution that applies to a council member charged with a prison offence.
“As this matter is before the courts, and out of respect for all parties involved, no further comment will be provided,” Shane Mills mentioned.
Miller, a former Ontario Chronicle sports activities reporter, is now the managing editor of the Penticton Herald and the Ontario Chronicle, in line with their web sites. Shannon Huggard, the Herald’s writer, didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon if the costs will have an effect on Miller’s job.
This commercial has not loaded but, however your article continues beneath.
Article content material
Miller was first charged in 2005 with three counts of sexual assault, one depend of sexual interference and two counts of intimidation of a justice system participant, The Ontario Chronicle reported. The fees stemmed from a grievance by a person who informed police he was assaulted between 1984 and 1986 when he was between six and eight years previous, the report mentioned.
The entire charges laid in 2005 have been dropped the next yr, The Observer reported. Miller was on unpaid depart from the newspaper whereas the costs have been earlier than the courts.
Miller, who was first elected to Penticton council in June 2021 in a by-election after one other councillor left for medical causes, got here to the town in 2008 from Spruce Grove, Alta., the town’s web site says. No point out is product of his Sarnia days.
The 2005 charges got here to gentle final summer season, which prompted the town to ask Miller to step again from public occasions whereas it investigated, in line with Castanet, a information web site based mostly in Kelowna. In an announcement issued July 24, 2023, council mentioned it thought of the matter closed and Miller was inspired to attend group occasions once more.
Beneficial from Editorial
‘Relieved’: Crown won’t appeal Sarnia man’s manslaughter acquittal
Trucker responsible of smuggling $3.6M cocaine over Sarnia border, faces as much as 12 years in jail
Article content material
Share this text in your social community
