FILE PHOTO
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ James Miller
December 10, 2024 - 12:00 AM
A Penticton city councillor and newspaper editor was arrested Thursday after allegations of historical sex crimes.
The charges arise out of Ontario, but it was Penticton RCMP that arrested James "Jim" Matthew Miller on Aug. 1, according to a Sarnia Police Service news release.
Miller, 59, is facing two counts of sexual interference and two more for sexual assault on a person under 16 years of age.
A complaint to Sarnia police earlier this year alleged Miller sexually assaulted a child while volunteering as a basketball coach in 1989, according to the release.
Miller was placed on a mandatory leave of absence from the City of Penticton, as required by the Community Charter. He will continue to be paid.
It appears the new charges are related to only one victim, but it's not Miller's first time.
In 2005, Miller faced several similar charges in Sarnia for offences between 1986 and 2005. The charges were dismissed, but Miller was asked not to attend public events on behalf of the City when they were rehashed a year ago.
“Since the charges were dismissed, I have moved on with my personal and professional life, believing that this difficult time in my past was now behind me and no longer relevant,” Miller said in a statement at the time.
“It is troubling that someone has now attempted to make this old court case news, but I trust people in this community will judge me on the work I have done on their behalf as a Councillor and as editor of a local newspaper. My present goals remain to work for the citizens of Penticton as one of their Councillors and to continue my profession as a journalist.”
He's been the editor of the Penticton Herald since 2008, where he remains. He was elected to Penticton city council in a 2021 byelection, then re-elected in 2022.
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