SNOW-COATED SCULPTURES
Former Loveland police officer federally indicted
A grand jury has issued an indictment against Dylan Miller, the former Loveland Police Department officer accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl while on duty last year, alleging he deprived the victim of her civil rights; this federal felony complaint comes on top of the local criminal charges the former officer already faces for the alleged incident.
The announcement was made by Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, U.S. Attorney Cole Finegan for the District of Colorado and Special Agent in Charge Mark Michalek of the FBI Denver Field Office, according to a release from the United States Department of Justice. Several agencies investigated the incident for the federal case, including the FBI Denver Field Office and Larimer County Sheriff’s
Office with the cooperation of the LPD.
The indictment, filed to the United States District Court of Colorado March 20, claims that Miller, while on duty as a police officer last August, deprived the victim of the alleged incident — referred to as Minor #1 — of her “liberty without due process of the law, which includes the fundamental right to bodily integrity”; federal court records classify this deprivation of civil rights as a class 4 felony.
If convicted, Miller faces a maximum penalty of life in prison, according to the DOJ release.
Miller, who is listed as being in custody in federal court documents, appeared before Magistrate Judge Susan Prose March 22 on the federal charge, during which the hearing was set over to 10 a.m. Wednesday before Magistrate Judge Michael
E. Hegarty, according to court records.
Miller was arrested in early November 2023 after the victim, described in initial reports as a 15-year-old girl, reported the alleged assault in late October. She told investigators that months earlier Miller had approached her and a friend at North Lake Park in the early morning hours, at which time he told her male friend to to leave and had her stay.
She told investigators that Miller, after speaking with her for around an hour, allegedly hugged and fondled her before making her perform oral sex on him, according to a previously released affidavit; she also told investigators that, prior to the alleged incident, she believed that Miller had removed his body camera and name tag.
Miller, when questioned by investigators, said he did not recognize the girl when shown a picture of her and said if he had contacted any juveniles in the park he may have told them to go home but denied he would have told a male to go home and a female to stay.
Miller was placed on administrative leave the Oct. 27, four days after the girl reported the alleged incident. He was fired Nov. 6, the same day the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office arrested him after obtaining a warrant.
He has since been charged in the 8th Judicial District with first-degree kidnapping, a class 2 felony; sexual assault of a child from a position of trust, a class 3 felony; unlawful sexual conduct by a peace officer, a class 3 felony; sexual assault, a class 6 felony; official oppression, a class 1 misdemeanor; and first-degree official misconduct, a class 1 misdemeanor.
Vikki Migoya, a public affairs officer for the FBI in Denver, said the federal charges filed against Miller are separate from the local charges.
Miller is scheduled to appear in the 8th Judicial District Court on those charges before Judge Joseph Findley at 4 p.m. April 15.