Private Counseling: Warrants Allege Berlin Priest Talked Sex Online with 9 Boys

By Lisa Backus
New Britain Herald
June 26, 2012

http://www.newbritainherald.com/articles/2012/06/25/news/doc4fe91c32bdba7154115152.txt

Newly released arrest warrants allege that a popular priest was having sexually oriented conversations with at least nine teenage boys, most under the age of 16, while he was working at St. Paul’s Church in Berlin.

Michael Miller, 42, was arrested in July 2011 on charges he made inappropriate comments during conversations on Facebook with a 13-year-old boy. As part of the investigation, police seized several of Miller’s computers, according to three warrants issued for Miller’s June 14 arrest.

The warrants detail the results of the computer examination which revealed that Miller was having inappropriate conversations with several teenage boys, most of whom were parishioners who met him through the church, according to police.

In the talks on Facebook, which were retrieved by the Digital Forensics Unit at the New Britain Police Department, Miller described for one 15-year-old boy the pornographic movie he was watching and said he preferred boys “because they know how the parts work.”

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Another 15-year-old confirmed that Miller, who used the screen name “Brendan Duvey,” would describe sex acts to him and how to perform certain maneuvers. Yet another 15-year-old told police he began talking to Miller about his parents’ divorce and his girl problems and ultimately the priest began discussing his bisexual relationships with the boy and which sex acts he preferred to perform, according to the warrant.

Miller is also charged with sending a 16-year-old boy two videos of a man committing a sex act as well as having several images on his computer of young boys in various sexual escapades. The 16-year-old told police that Miller began conversing with him on Facebook after he attended confession with the priest as part of the confirmation process, the warrants reveal.

All of the boys told police that Miller hadn’t physically touched them but in some cases had asked to take the teens to various places or to commit sex acts with him which they declined, the warrants said.

Miller was charged June 14 with 10 counts of risk of injury to a child, two counts of obscenity and third-degree possession of child pornography. He is scheduled to be arraigned on the new charges July 9. His arrest last year involving a 13-year-old is still pending.

Miller, who was a Franciscan Friar who had worked as a priest at St. Paul’s Church for five years, was suspended from the priesthood last year. The initial allegations surrounding his arrest last year rocked church members who staged several worship services for Miller, his victim and the church. Miller is free on $300,000 bond.

Lisa Backus can be reached at (860) 225-4601, ext. 306, or lbackus@newbritainherald.com