By NATASHA BRENNEMAN
Staff Writer
A Tennessee man has been brought back to Clarion County to face several charges, including rape, in connection with alleged incidents more than two years ago involving a 16-year-old girl.
Clarion state police trooper Rodney Hotchkiss said information about the location of John Miller III, of Shelbyville, Tennessee, was recently provided to him. Hotchkiss had a warrant issued for Miller’s arrest, and law enforcement personnel in Tennessee were able to pick up Miller early last week.
He was extradited to Clarion County and placed in the county jail on Friday.
Miller had been charged in May 2015 with felony counts of rape-forcible compulsion, sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault without consent, corruption of minors and indecent assault without consent in connection with a reported incident in Paint Township.
According to a criminal complaint filed through district judge Timothy Schill’s office on May 14, 2015, Hotchkiss received a report of suspected child abuse from Clarion County Children and Youth Services.
The report said the 16-year-old girl told her therapist she was sexually assaulted by Miller at her residence, the complaint said.
Hotchkiss requested an interview with the girl and her mother to discuss the incident in more detail, and on March 9, 2015, Hotchkiss explained the allegations to the girl’s mother and asked her about Miller, the complaint said.
The complaint said the girl’s mother said she knew Miller and that she and her husband were foster parents to Miller and his brothers when they were younger.
The girl’s mother said Miller got into trouble in 2014 and spent time at the Jefferson and Clarion County jails, the complaint said. When Miller was released from the Clarion County jail, he contacted the girl’s mother and asked to stay at their house until he could save money to move back to Tennessee, and the mother agreed to let Miller move in for a short period, according to the complaint.
Hotchkiss interviewed the girl at the state police barracks on March 9, 2015, and she told him she didn’t know Miller that well because he had moved out of her house before she was born.
The girl told Hotchkiss that sometime in 2015 Miller entered her room one day when she was sleeping and approached her bed. She woke up when Miller opened the door but pretended to be asleep, the complaint said.
The girl said Miller started kissing her and touching her inappropriately, the complaint said. She told Miller “no” and “stop” but he didn’t listen and began to remove her underwear, according to the complaint.
The girl told Hotchkiss that Miller was on top of her for about three minutes and then stopped. She also said Miller heard a noise and quickly left her room, the complaint said.
Hotchkiss said the girl told him Miller had flirted with her before the incident but she thought he was joking, the complaint said.
Miller moved out of the house shortly after the alleged incident, according to the complaint.
Miler was arraigned last week by Schill and is in the Clarion County jail on $50,000 cash bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.