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- Army recruiter Dale Allen Miller was charged Thursday with forcible sex abuse of a 16-year-old.
- The Layton man is accused of abusing his position to groom and abuse the girl.
WEST VALLEY CITY — Criminal charges were filed Thursday against a U.S. Army recruiter accused of inappropriate sexual conduct with a teen girl who was a student in one of his classes.
Dale Allen Miller, 39, of Layton, is charged in 3rd District Court with forcible sexual abuse, a second-degree felony; attempted forcible sexual abuse, a third-degree felony; and providing tobacco to a minor, a class C misdemeanor.
Miller "used his position of trust as a military recruiter to prey upon the victim and groom her. (He) made sexual remarks to the victim, including that he wished she was older so he could (have sex with) her but also said that he would be willing to 'risk doing something' because she was 'pretty,'" the charges state.
The investigation began in November when the owner of a West Valley boxing gym called the police because he thought Miller was having an inappropriate relationship with a 16-year-old girl, a police booking affidavit states. The owner told police he started a collaboration with the Army in September in which Miller would come to his gym once a week to show students different drill exercises and talk about career opportunities in the military. West Valley police say Miller worked at the U.S. Army Recruiting Center in Taylorsville.
It wasn't long before Miller began pulling the teen aside after class to talk to her, charging documents state.
Miller "would first talk about the military, but when he 'isolated her,' he would tell her 'really inappropriate things he had done in the military,'" the charges allege. "The conversations escalated to talking about 'his sex life,' and he would be more direct in the sexual nature of the conversations."
Miller is also accused of buying cigarettes for the teen and inappropriately touching her while in his vehicle.
Other students told the owner that Miller "was getting too close" to the girl and was isolating her, according to police.
In December, when the girl was formally interviewed by investigators, she admitted that "she felt like she was being groomed," police said.
Miller was arrested on Monday.
