Did the doctor do it? - Sexually molest teen, abscond from the US, marry victim, set up practice in Jamaica
Published:Friday | July 29, 2016 | 12:00 AMRyon Jones
A Jamaican who was convicted in the United States for having sex with an underage girl and labelled a ‘sexual predator’ by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement has been operating a medical practice in the island for the past 16 years and treating children.
George Miller lost his job, medical licence and freedom after he pleaded no contest to sexual battery-familial on a 14-year-old Miramar girl but absconded and fled the United States.
Miller, who was 31 at the time of the incident, was in November 1, 1996 placed on supervised community control release for a period of two years to be followed by probation for a period of six years.
But 24 days later Miller was nowhere to be found, with the young girl also going missing two weeks afterwards. This resulted in a warrant being issued for Miller’s arrest on January 16, 1997.
The Miramar Police Department was, however, unable to find Miller before discovering on October 21, 1999 that he was in Bermuda.
An extradition warrant was subsequently issued for him to be taken back to the United States for sentencing.
He, however, found his way back to Jamaica and is now married to the victim of his sexual abuse and has also set up a paediatrics practice with his office now located at a prominent commercial centre in the Corporate Area.
When a Sunday Gleaner news team visited his office last week, Miller attempted to downplay the severity of the issue, saying that the victim has been his wife for the past 17 years and they have a son together.
He also claimed he had revealed what transpired in the US to the Medical Council of Jamaica which did its investigation and issued his licence.
Attorney-at-law Ronald Hugh Small, who Miller retained following The Sunday Gleaner’s visit, also claimed that based on documents he had received, the matter had been looked at by the Medical Council some time ago.
But current chairman of the council, Dr John Hall, said he does not know what evidence his predecessor had or what investigation was conducted.
Miller said his criminal charge should be placed at the feet of his wife’s parents. According to Miller, the parents filed charges when he made it known that he was going to marry their daughter.
He said he knew his wife for a few years before she turned 18, but at the time when the parents tried to prevent them from getting married it was too late.
But according to documents obtained by The Sunday Gleaner from Florida’s State Attorney’s Office, Miller unlawfully engaged, on at least three occasions, in sexual acts by having vaginal penetration between June 1, 1995 and April 30, 1996 with a child.
The victim’s mother, in her statement to the police, revealed that she was involved in a romantic relationship with Miller and he ultimately moved into her house where they lived as boyfriend and girlfriend along with her daughter and son.
Feelings transferred
She said (at the time of their split) he had told her that he “loved” her daughter and that his “feelings” had transferred to the child, but he had not informed her that he was having sexual intercourse with the then underage girl.
In a sworn statement which was given by the victim, who is now Miller’s wife, to the Miramar Police Department on July 4, 1996, she had sexual intercourse with Miller on four occasions. The first sexual act,she said, occurred in Jamaica when she was 14; Miller would have been 31 at the time.
She had visited Jamaica with him and her younger brother for a Kung Fu Exhibition.
It was also revealed in her statement that when they returned to the United States, they had sexual intercourse on three more occasions in her bedroom while her mother and brother were not at home.
The victim, who had told investigators that she had only had sex with Miller, said he advised her “not to say anything” because he could get in “big trouble”.
The victim had also disclosed in her statement to law enforcement officials that after the sexual acts came to light and she was sent to stay with family in Chile for a brief period, Miller had attempted to take her from family members.
When the matter was taken before the court, Miller pleaded no contest on November 1, 1996 to three counts of sexual battery-familial. The ‘no contest’ plea meant that Miller did not admit or deny the charges with the principal difference between such a plea and that of a guilty plea being that it may not be used against the defendant in a civil action based on the same acts.
Though the law allowed for Miller to be sentenced to a term of imprisonment not exceeding 30 years the judge opted not to have sentenced him to jail time.