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  Former Priest Accused Again of Molestation

By Eric Leach
LA Daily News
July 24, 2007

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_6456071

Pacoima - A retired priest against whom child molestation charges were thrown out in 2002 was arrested again Tuesday on new sex abuse charges, officials said.

The accusations against George Miller, 69, are the latest in the clerical abuse scandal that swept the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, culminating last week with a record $660 million settlement involving 508 victims.

As part of the settlement, Cardinal Roger Mahony agreed to release confidential church documents about the cases.

District Attorney Steve Cooley said he had not yet received those documents, but was able to proceed with the case against Miller based on other evidence.

"As promised, investigations are ongoing into alleged sexual abuse of minors by priests," Cooley said in a statement released Tuesday. "As evidence is developed to sustain criminal filings, we will do so."

Miller initially came under suspicion five years ago, when he was charged with molesting the latest accuser's older brother and two other boys who were brothers. The abuse, they said, took place in the 1970s and 1980s when Miller was assigned to Guardian Angel Catholic Church in Pacoima.

In a 2002 interview with the Daily News, one of the accusers

said Miller had molested him at a Malibu beach house that priests used as a retreat.

That case was dismissed in 2003 after the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated a law extending California's statute of limitations for sex crimes. Authorities said the law allows them to file charges for incidents that occurred from 1988 to the present.

Miller's latest accuser said the abuse began in March 1988, when he was 5 years old, and continued over a three-year period.

According to authorities, Miller was acquainted with the boy's mother and a frequent guest in the family's home. The abuse began when Miller began taking the boy on overnight trips, officials said.

Miller was arrested at his home in Oxnard and jailed in Los Angeles in lieu of $600,000 bail. He was scheduled to be arraigned today in San Fernando Superior Court. Attempts to reach an attorney for Miller were unsuccessful.

Miller was ordained in 1963 and served at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Santa Clarita, San Buenaventura Mission Church in Ventura and St. Philomena in Carson before arriving at Guardian Angel in 1973.

He served at the Pacoima parish until 1984, the last three years as pastor, before being transferred to Santa Clara Church in Oxnard. He went out on sick leave in 1996, and retired a year later.

Contact: eric.leach@dailynews.com or (805) 583-7602.

 
 

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