AUBURN — A California man was convicted at trial last week of sexually abusing four girls under age 12 in 2019.
Avery Miller Androscoggin County Jail photo
Avery Miller, 28, was indicted on eight felony counts and was found guilty at trial of six counts of unlawful sexual contact, each charge a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
It took an Androscoggin County Superior Court jury about six hours to deliberate after a three-day trial.
According to an Androscoggin County grand jury indictment, the criminal conduct happened over nine days in May 2019.
Miller had been held without bail pending trial for having violated bail conditions and will continue to be held at Androscoggin County Jail until he is sentenced. No sentencing date has been set.
According to an affidavit written by local police Detective Eric Bell, the father of the girls contacted police after Miller had been discovered by their mother under a blanket with one of the girls, who was 5 years old at the time.
Miller submitted to two polygraph tests, but the results had been inconclusive due to what the polygraph examiner reported as Miller’s refusal to abide by the requirements of the test, Bell wrote.
At the same time, Miller was wanted in Idaho for allegedly sexually assaulting a child. He was later convicted of one count of “injury to a child” for that conduct, and was extradited back to Maine following his guilty plea in that state.
All of the children were interviewed by a forensic examiner at the Children’s Advocacy Center of Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford counties in Lewiston.
All four victims testified at trial, as did Miller.
“This verdict is the direct result of the immense bravery shown by these young children in testifying and facing their abuser,” Assistant District Attorney Katherine Bozeman said Friday. “The state is pleased with the verdict and the justice for the survivors that it represents. The District Attorney’s Office is grateful for its multidisciplinary partners at the Children’s Advocacy Center and Auburn PD for their hard work helping to hold defendants accountable for crimes against some of the most vulnerable in the community.”
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