Penticton councillor arrested, charged with sexually assaulting child

The City of Penticton says councillor James Miller has been placed on a “mandatory leave of absence.”

The statement issued by the City around 9:30 am came shortly after Miller was arrested by the Penticton RCMP on serious charges out of Ontario.

Those charges, announced by the Sarnia Police Service (SPS) this morning, involve allegations of “historical sexual offences” in 1989 when Miller was a volunteer youth basketball coach.

“The victim, now an adult, was a young person at the time,” explained an SPS release announcing the following charges against the 59-year-old Miller:

• Sexual Interference (2 Counts)
• Sexual Assault on a Person Under 16 years of age (2 counts)

The SPS obtained a Canada-wide warrant for Miller’s arrest and he was brought into custody by members of the Penticton RCMP this morning.

He will make an appearance in Sarnia Court by video link later today.

This isn’t the first time these allegations against Miller have come to light, as it was almost exactly a year ago that media reports of the same criminal charges against him in 2006 resurfaced.

On July 20, 2023, he was asked to abstain from attending public events as City staff made inquiries into Miller’s past.

A few days later, however, Bloomfield said that Miller was “encouraged to again attend public events on behalf of the City.”

Miller was ultimately acquitted on all counts nearly 20 years ago and it’s unknown at this time what brought the case back in front of SPS investigators.

Along with being a city councillor since 2021, Miller is the managing editor of the Penticton Herald and has been predominantly employed at the publication since relocating to the Okanagan in 2008.