Mica Miller’s Pastor Husband Arrested for Assault of Protester

Authorities in South Carolina have arrested pastor John-Paul Miller, who has been on the heart of a months-long controversy surrounding his spouse Mica Miller’s suicide in April, on accusations he assaulted a protester.

John-Paul, 45, was arrested on Wednesday, Nov. 6, in Myrtle Seaside, S.C. on an assault cost, in response to Myrtle Seaside Police Division’s on-line information. 

Myrtle Seaside regulation enforcement officers responded to his church on Wednesday afternoon concerning a “attainable assault,” in response to an arrest affidavit obtained by PEOPLE. 

Throughout what the warrant describes as a “protest” on the church, the alleged sufferer approached John-Paul and acknowledged “Right here Kitty Kitty,” to him, per the arrest warrant. The doc didn’t make clear what the protest was about. 

Police allege John-Paul then “received into the victims (sic) face” and started recording her earlier than tapping the individual’s cap and strolling away, per the affidavit. 

An unspecified video from the scene reviewed by police didn’t present the alleged assault, they mentioned within the affidavit.

One video shared with PEOPLE by John-Paul’s lawyer, Russell Lengthy, reveals a girl operating in the direction of John-Paul whereas the individual recording the video seems to taunt him: “Pussycat! Pussycat! Run, run, run!” the individual filming says.

John-Paul then stops and approaches the girl in entrance of a automobile and seems to carry his cellphone as much as her. (It is unclear if this video is the one police referenced within the affidavit.)

Then the girl is heard yelling, “Do not f—— contact me!” 

It isn’t clear if John-Paul did in truth contact the girl.

Lengthy alleges to PEOPLE that the ladies recording John-Paul and making “pussycat” feedback have been “simply baiting him and making an attempt to coerce him.”

He says whereas the pastor had his digicam up, he didn’t assault the sufferer. 

A witness instructed police that John-Paul struck the sufferer twice. It isn’t clear if the witness in query was the individual filming the incident and seemingly taunting the pastor.

Later within the night, police arrested John-Paul at his house. He has since been launched from custody on bond, in response to Lengthy.

John-Paul’s arrest comes lower than per week after the FBI searched his house, in response to police, WBTW, WPDE and The Solar Information beforehand reported.

The FBI mentioned they have been conducting a “court-authorized regulation enforcement exercise” on the residence, per WPDE and WBTW, but it surely wasn’t clear what that entailed. 

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John-Paul got here into the highlight after his spouse Mica, 30, was discovered lifeless at a state park in Robeson County, N.C., in what authorities later decided was a suicide. On the time, the couple had been separated and Mica had filed for authorized separation from him. 

Her dying stirred hypothesis amongst mates and individuals who have adopted the case that there might have been foul play, however authorities have maintained Mica’s dying was a suicide. 

In Might, the Robeson County Sheriff’s Workplace instructed PEOPLE that the FBI was conducting a “parallel investigation” associated to the case that did not contain Mica’s dying.

“There is no proof connecting him to her dying,” Damien McLean of the Robeson County Sheriff’s Workplace instructed PEOPLE in Might. “[The FBI is] investigating separate from her dying. Her dying has been dominated [a] suicide.”

When you or somebody you understand is contemplating suicide, please contact the 988 Suicide and Disaster Lifeline by dialing 988, textual content “STRENGTH” to the Disaster Textual content Line at 741741 or go to 988lifeline.org.