Months after the suicide of Myrtle Beach Pastor John-Paul Miller’s wife sparked a public outcry and criminal investigation, police have filed their first charges.
John-Paul Miller and Mica Miller / Mica Miller died in April from a self-inflicted bullet wound / Photo via Facebook
The alleged crime: tapping a protester’s hat with his cell phone.
Local news WBTW reports that on Wednesday (Nov. 6), the Solid Rock at Market Commons pastor was arrested after confronting a woman who chased him down outside his church while calling him names.
The woman, Sandra Karon, had been participating in a “Justice for Mica” protest against Miller, 44, who many blame for the April death of his wife, 30-year-old Mica Miller. She died by a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The protesters have been gathering every Sunday outside Solid Rock since May.
Video footage obtained by WBTW shows Miller turn around, approach Karon and point his phone in her face.
“You are in my personal…” Karon can be heard saying before Miller makes a motion with the phone that provokes her. Karon then follows him, calling him a “psychopath” and accusing him of touching her.
“He was right in my face and he said, ‘What are you gonna do? What are you gonna do?’ And he had his phone up in my face and tapped the brim of my hat twice while he was saying it,” Karon said. “I could see where they might say it was antagonistic. But to antagonize someone into doing something illegal—am I responsible for him doing that?”
The protesters called police, who charged Miller with “assault / assault and battery 3rd degree” and released him the next day on $776 bond with a hearing scheduled for Dec. 10.
The altercation came just four days after the FBI raided and removed items from Miller’s Myrtle Beach home, which, along with the church, is part of a $5.59-million real estate portfolio controlled by Solid Rock Ministries. Asked about the raid, the FBI replied that it does not answer questions regarding potential indictments.
Soon afterward, the church appeared to be in the process of relocating. Movers were spotted taking items from the building, and the sign was taken down. Public records reveal that Miller recently applied for a business license for a new ministry, Living Water Church at Market Common Inc., which was accepted Oct. 17 in South Carolina.
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Miller has declined to speak to the press and warned that any future communications would be regarded as “harassment.”
In May, Mica Miller’s death seemed like a closed case when Robeson County Sheriff’s Office officially ruled her death a suicide. John-Paul Miller pinned the blame on his wife’s mental health issues, telling the press she suffered from “bipolar II, schizophrenic and dependent personality disorder,” and claiming she’d made previous suicide attempts.
However, family and friends of Mica Miller accused the pastor of abusive behavior that led to her suicide. Mica had recently filed for divorce and a no contact order, the couple were living separately, and according to the sheriff’s statement, John-Paul was “allegedly romantically involved with” another woman.
An affidavit filed on May 6 by Mica’s sister, Sierra Francis, claimed the wife “expressed abuse and violence against her by her husband,” and asserted that “Mica stated to me on many occasions, ‘If I end up with a bullet in my head, it was not by me, it was by JP.”
Further complicating the matter was the fact that at the time of Mica Miller’s death, the Myrtle Beach police had an open investigation against her. Mica was suspected of stealing $1,199 from the church’s African missionary fund and placing it in her personal bank account; and John-Paul was listed in a police report as an “involved other.” The city attorney later closed the case, declaring the issue a “civil matter between [the] involved parties.”
On May 13, the sheriff’s office announced it had asked the FBI and U.S. attorney’s office to assist in the investigation into her death. No charges were ever filed. Meanwhile, John-Paul Miller remained on staff at Solid Rock, contrary to previous reports he had been let go.
Then in late July, multiple civil suits between the pastor, Mica’s family and Solid Rock Ministries ended in a confidential settlement. While most of the details were not disclosed, it was revealed that the settlement eliminated any possibility of future civil wrongful death claims tied to Mica’s suicide, and that Francis withdrew a petition to administer Micah’s estate. In addition, all sides agreed to push for South Carolina to pass a “coercive control” law, which would criminalize a broad range of behaviors deemed coercive.
Regina Ward, who had been working as Mica’s divorce attorney, described coercive control as “psychological warfare” and said that if the bill had been law at the time of Mica’s death, John-Paul would have been guilty of multiple violations.
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