Law&Crime Sidebar - BREAKING: Mica Miller's Pastor Husband Slapped with Indictment

Episode Date: December 18, 2025

Former South Carolina pastor John Paul “JP” Miller has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of cyberstalking and making a false statement following the death of his estranged wife, Mica Miller. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber sits down with Regina Ward, an attorney representing Mica’s family, to unpack the specific counts, as well as what punishment Miller could face if he’s convicted.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW:Stop guessing - start making perfect food every time. Use code SIDEBAR for 30% off - https://chefiq.com/discount/SIDEBARHOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea, Alex Ciccarone, & Jay CruzScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrimeTwitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Making sure that my heart doesn't have any unforgiveness, bitterness, resentment, just forgiveness and hope for the future and peace. Because you can't put a price on peace. We have breaking news. It is the moment that many in the Myrtle Beach area, of South Carolina have been waiting for. Controversial former pastor John Paul J.P. Miller

has been indicted by a federal grand jury. Now Miller made headlines after his wife, Micah, who filed for divorce, ended her own life. But since then, rumors, speculation, they have all been rampant. And now Miller finds himself in some very serious legal jeopardy. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by law and crime. I'm Jesse Weber. All right, look, I got to say this real quick, not to detract from what we're saying, but it is the holiday season. You might be looking for a perfect deal on a perfect gift. I got to mention this, the Chef IQ Sense Smart Meat Thermometer. This right here is the secret to stress-free, flawless cooking.

So whether you're a seasoned chef or you're just starting out, this smart thermometer, it guarantees perfect results every time. There's no more guessing, there's no more overcooking. You just insert it. You select your food, your cooking method, your preferred doneness, and then you relax. your app is going to alert you when it's time to flip, remove, rest. It is perfect food every time from holiday turkey to prime rib to wings, brisket, salmon. It works for the oven, the grill, the smoker, the air fryer.

You really can't mess this up. It's the gift that makes cooking stress-free and fun. And with my code sidebar, you can save 30% off-sitewide at Chef IQ.com. Incessant phone calls, leak nudes, a tracker on a car. These are just some of the allegations that are laid out against John Paul J.P. Miller by federal prosecutors out in South Carolina. A brand new indictment comes nearly two years after Miller was thrust into the spotlight in connection with his wife's death. We've talked about this before. Micah Miller took her own life on April 27th, 2024. This was two days

after serving Miller with divorce papers. Miller himself, a pastor, delivered the news to the congregation at Solid Rock Church in Myrtle Beach at the end of a sermon, and this shocked everyone. I got a call late last night. My wife has passed away. And it was self-induced, and it was up in North Carolina. And she was, she wasn't, you all knew that she wasn't well mentally. And then she needed her medicine that was hard to get to her. Almost immediately after people heard that news, rumors started flying that Miller could have

had something to do with Micah dying. Now, to be clear, authorities have said there was no direct evidence saying that he killed or was responsible for her death because at first there was speculation that Miller might have been directly involved. You know, there was rumors about staging a homicide to look like something else. But to be clear, a medical examiner confirmed that Micah's death, this tragedy, was a fatal gunshot wound, was self-inflicted. But then something else happened.

As word spread that Miller may have been allegedly abusive, there were accusations from Micah's family in the community that Miller had Micah under his thumb, refused to let her go, that she reportedly became more isolated, which, by the way, she seemingly addressed in a Facebook video. Hey, everybody. I just want to let you know that I'm alive and well. And life's been kind of crazy a couple past weeks, months, years. but I've kind of had to keep my circle really small for the past couple weeks just because I'm going

through a lot and it's hard and it's my cross to bear. It's the thing that God has put in my life to deal with and I don't want to bring a lot of people into it. And just a couple months before her body was found at a state park, Micah Miller made a call to 911 telling the dispatcher that Miller had assaulted her. Now, I want to add. It's an emergency. Hi, I have somebody who I believe to be in a manic state and is a direct danger to the people in his household and himself and others. I need an immediate pickup, not the 72-hour pickup that a spouse can initiate.

I need this to be a little quicker because he is a flight risk. There's been domestic violence. He put his hands on me. And he pushed me down in front of thousands of people at Disney World. And so, yeah, and his best friend even saw that happen. What did he do? Drinks right out of my hand. Okay. I was in the hospital after that from just a panic attack of what was happening.

So with it looking more and more like Micah was living in an allegedly abusive relationship, many in the community, they called for authorities to get involved and determined whether Miller had any culpability in Micah's death in some way. Now, meanwhile, according to multiple online reports, Miller seemed to be moving on and pretty quickly. He was reportedly seen on a date with a woman named Susie Skinner, just days after Micah's death. According to Miller's first wife, Miller and Skinner, they were allegedly having an affair in 2021, the same year that Skinner's wheelchair-bound husband drowned. It's a really odd thing that two people who had a relationship are suddenly both single because of the deaths of their spouses. But to be clear, authorities have never said there is any evidence to suggest

these deaths are anything than what they seem. I will tell you, Miller and Skinner, they got married this past summer. So now I want to go back to November 1st of last year. You know why? Because that is when the FBI searched Miller's home. They were reportedly seen removing items from his house. But what exactly was taken into evidence or why Miller was under investigation? That wasn't clear. During all this, Miller was having to contend also with protesters outside of his home in church calling for justice for Micah. And after the FBI, I raid, tensions boiled over, and Miller was ultimately arrested for getting into an altercation with a woman in a parking lot.

Authorities were called out, and according to an incident report, the woman that Miller got apparently into this altercation with told police, quote, while she was on the sidewalk in front of Solid Rock Church, she observed the offender recording them from behind protesters' vehicles in the parking lot. She then went across the street to confront him. She stated she called out to the offender to ask what he was doing. The offender walked away, but she called back out to him. the offender came back and met her in between two vehicles where words were exchanged and the

victim said the offender began recording her. While the offender was holding the phone up to her face, the victim said the offender asked her, what you're going to do and tap the bill of her hat two times and walked away after which the victim yelled at the offender, don't you touch me multiple times. So Miller was later arrested. He was charged with third degree assault and battery. He was released on Bond the following day. And as we started digging into Miller, and as we started looking more into his prior legal issues, we learned a lot of information from a request that Micah filed with Surfside Beach Magistrate Court on March 11th. And this is where she was seeking a restraining order.

She alleged that Miller was stalking her doing things like putting a tracker on her car, spamming her phone with calls and text messages. The court proceedings ended up being dismissed and no restraining order was. ever actually issued. But in light of what he's now charged with, you got to wonder, are authorities believing everything she was saying? Because I will tell you, those allegations right now are in black and white and federal court records. A grand jury returned a bill of indictment, the United States of America versus John Paul Miller. Talk more about this, the allegations. I want to welcome back on Regina Ward, an attorney for Micah's family.

Thank you so much for taking the time. Before we even go through the indictment here, this is major news for anybody who's been following this story. We know the family has been waiting for some sort of accountability for years. How are they feeling right now, given the fact that he has been indicted? Yes, it's been like a, you know, kind of felt like everyone else. When is the day coming? And so the wills of justice tend to turn a little slow, but that's okay. I'm happy with methodical justice. And I'm glad we're here. As the lawyer in me, I do have to say, look, he is innocent and so proven guilty. The prosecutor. We'll have the burden of proving all of this. But have you learned any more on your end about the FBI investigation? What has been going on behind the scenes? Because this is taken some time since the news first broke that his property was being searched to now the indictment. Do you know anything that's been going on behind the scenes that you can share with us?

Right. I wouldn't have any direct personal knowledge. I did in the beginning, obviously, whenever the subpoena was served upon me for my documents and things that the FBI wanted. when they were beginning their investigation. Once that ball got rolling and they were, you know, they had everything that I had. Then they executed that search warrant, which I'm sure added a lot to it. As far as what was going on behind the scenes, I can only imagine by virtue of this indictment, they've been doing their job and getting the evidence and everything

and together to be able to pull this indictment off. Let's talk about the indictment. I want to go through it because, and as we go through it, so everybody knows, Micah is referred to victim one here. So there are two counts, count one. Cyberstalking. Here's what the filing says. The grand jury charges that beginning on or around November 16th, 2022, and continuing through on or about April 27th, 2024 in the District of South Carolina and elsewhere, the defendant John Paul Miller with the intent to kill, injure, harass,

intimidate, or place under surveillance with the intent to kill, injure, harass, intimidate victim one, used interactive computer services to engage in a course of conduct that placed victim one in reasonable fear of death or serious bodily injury and caused attempted to cause and the course of conduct would be reasonably expected to cause victim one substantial emotional distress to which John Paul Miller sent or caused to be sent unwanted and harassing electronic communications to victim one used or threatened to use nude photos and photographs of victim one to harass victim one posted a nude photograph of victim one online without victim one's consent placed or caused to be placed tracking devices on vehicles used by victim one,

place victim one or cause victim one to be placed under surveillance with the intent to harass and intimidate victim one, damage victim one's vehicle, interfered with victim one's finances and banking and interfered with victim one's daily activities. There's a whole lot to unpack there. But Regina, you know, first, I think it's notable that these were allegations we had heard before, but federal prosecutors believe they have the evidence to substantiate this. Yes, as I stated before with the subpoena, the things that Micah kept and put together in preparation for her hearing and family court, all of those things were turned over and it had to do with specifically the nude photo that's being referred to. Also, the tracking device and the evidence that we had of that tracking device.

The police reports that were made that support the damage to her vehicle and the slashing of her. tires. They're supporting evidence for all of that that was collected by Micah herself. And if you talk about the nude photos or the, you know, the videos of Micah that Miller allegedly put online, we've actually heard about this before. News Nation reported last year that Miller had apparently written a letter to Micah seemingly apologizing, seemingly admitting to doing just that. Quote, I'm sorry for putting a picture of you on the internet. It was for less than one hour and immediately taken down. I was hurt that you were telling everyone horrible intimate details of my past sin and I just wanted to try and hurt you. Please forgive me. It was evil of me to do that.

Now, Regina, revenge porn is more common than maybe most people probably realize. It is also a crime. Talk to me about that. Talk to me about this letter because I think it's significant. Yes. In fact, that letter was written. He's tried to explain away that letter that she required him to write and he made up all of these things because she was saying all these things. But she had independent evidence of these allegations that she kept. Also, in addition to that, her journals and the writings that she put together. So as far as, you know, when you speak of like revenge porn, I don't even like to call it that. Because really, it was intent, the intent of the photo was for a private photo to be shared between a husband and wife and certainly not to be shared.

And Micah was very clear in that. She even made a police report about it complaining that he was threatening to upload it and that sort of thing. And when you talk about the evidence, because Mike had previously told police that she found a tracking device on her car, she thought that she was being found. They thought she was being surveilled that Miller was messing with her finances and possessions like her car and this sort of alleged escalating behavior. But there had to be something else that investigators found some sort of evidence. Maybe when they conducted search warrants, right? When they see certain materials, apparently, that would corroborate this. I mean, do you have any idea what sort of evidence might investigators have to back up those claims of the surveillance?

Yeah, absolutely. That was one thing whenever they executed that search warrant. I actually was there when the FBI was doing that and I was watching some of the things that that you could see that was coming out. Most of it was in paper bags and boxes and things like that. But there was obviously a computer that was taken out of that house. And so when I saw that, I immediately thought, yes, that's definitely going to have some material on it that would corroborate Micah's, you know, the allegations that Micah had been making. And I would assume that that is exactly what had happened, especially with the mention of the purchase of the tracker. There would have been evidence of him purchasing that whenever he's the one he said he never, excuse me, the things that, the slashing of the tires, you know, he denied that.

And it sounds like they found some evidence to corroborate that allegation. And I want to highlight this part of count one. It's very crucial with the intent to kill, injure, harass, intimidate. So prosecutors seem to be alleging that there was intention behind what Miller allegedly do that he was deliberately trying to hurt her in some way. People might read this regina and say, wait a minute, is this a roundabout way of accusing Miller of causing Micah's death, not directly killing her? Do you think there's anything to that, or are we looking too far into it? Because, you know, there were a lot of thoughts about whether or not he was responsible for her death in any way. And there was no evidence to suggest that he, you know, was directly involved in what happened to her. But there were those who were, would make the claim, you know, he drove her to what happened. He was responsible. Do you think that this is a way, a roundabout way for prosecutors to make that point, or am I looking at it the wrong way?

Well, no, of course, I can't get into the minds or surmise what a prosecutor is thinking, but I also know that, you know, they're attorneys and they like to win. Lawyers like to win their cases. And so basically, whenever they pull this cyberstalk account, there are what we call elements of law that are associated with any type of crime that's being charged against someone. And those words are actually part of it. You know, I know that some people will extrapolate that and say, oh, my goodness,

this proves he was trying to, you know, to take her life. We have to read beyond that and also know that it also, not only that it was also that he intended to injure her, harass her, intimidate her, the things that we talk about in coercive control abuse. This is exhausting to read the indictment because it's not even everything that she experienced, but it's a lot of it. And just going through that demonstrates how this type of, you know, mental abuse can be can wear a person down and just, you know, really get into their self-confidence and things

like that. So I don't think it's a roundabout way. I like that it's directly on point with regard to the type of harassment and abuse that she suffered, you know, allegedly at his hands. And then you have this, this other charge, making a false statement to law enforcement, quote, the grand jury further charges he false. claimed victim one had been calling him more than he called victim one on March 11, 2024, when in fact the defendant, John Paul Miller called victim one at least 50 times more than she called him. He falsely claimed police had never told him to stop contacting victim one, when in fact, the defendant John Paul Miller was told on March 11, 2024 by a police officer to stop contacting

victim one. He falsely claimed he did not damage victim one's tires or caused to be damaged when, in fact, the defendant, John Paul Miller used or caused to be used a tire deflation device in victim one's tires. So, Regina, give us more context about what that's about, him allegedly lying to law enforcement about his relationship and activities with Micah. Yeah, well, sure. That's, you know, part of the classic tactics is to, you know, deny, lie, deny obfuscate type of thing. So the interesting thing here is, as you mentioned earlier, victim one is referring.

to Micah. Well, with regard to the false statement, the victim there is the United States of America. That's the state who is prosecuting that. That is a victim that can offer up corroborating evidence. And so there's, you know, there's some concern by some who have looked at this, that because Micah will not, you know, be able to testify against Mr. Miller in a court law that it's going to be a little bit more difficult on that charge. While I think that They've got a lot of good evidence there. Of course, when you have that testimony is probably the most solid. But with regard to the false statements, the victim is the prosecuting authority, is the United States, is the people.

And so that's going to be a charge that probably has a pretty good bit, you know, good standing. Right. And let me say this as well. You know, digital records, the digital trail. It's so critical to any investigation. I spoke earlier about Miller's relationship with his former wife, Susie Skinner. There were allegations of infidelity. We all are wondering, you know, by the way, Skinner has never been an investigator

a charge in connection with Micah's death. You do wonder if she'll play a role in this in some way. But here's something that's interesting. It's our understanding from the federal court docket that Miller was not taken into or will not be taken into custody. He was issued a summons. He has to a report to the courthouse. The docket indicates that he sets up.

be reigned on January 12th. If Miller is found guilty, do you know what sort of punishment he could face? And no matter what the outcome is, the fact that now he has been indicted, does this affect Micah's family, their ability to file a civil claim against Miller? Okay, so a few things there with regard to the, you know, the penalty if he's found guilty, With regard to the cyber stalking, I think it's up to five years in prison. Of course, that's a max. As far as the false statement, I apologize, I don't know what that is off the top of my head. And in terms of, you know, will he be, will he do time?

Well, we certainly hope so, but I'm also a criminal defense attorney, and I know that there are ways to, you know, negotiate cases and things like that and look for weaknesses and loopholes in cases. So I'm sure that his lawyer will, you know, do his job. as the defense attorney, as far as him not being, you know, picked up and he was just received a summons. Well, it was not uncommon knowledge to know that he was represented by a criminal defense attorney. And it's not unusual for criminal defense attorneys to say, hey, I know that you're, you know, you may have a warrant for my client. Can we, can we organize where they can

voluntarily turn themselves in? So that's, uh, was something that his lawyer obviously was working for him. Yeah. So with regard to the civil claim, um, That was actually handled early on in the case, and there was a confidential, there was a confidential settlement regarding that. So that was already addressed very early on in the case. All right, Regina Ward, this is a very interesting update. We want to continue to follow it, see what happens. We'll see, you know, what happens at that next court date. But really appreciate you taking the time and speaking on behalf of Micah's family, as you always do.

Thank you. Yeah, and thank you. Appreciate you covering the story. It's been very important to all of the folks who have been supporting Micah in her case and the movement to get change in our law. And so that's helped by you as well. Thank you so much. It was our pleasure to cover this. And again, I know that people have very strong opinions about this case one way or another. I do have to add always the caveat. We're trying to present, be fair, present both sides. As I mentioned, he, he, He is innocent and so proven guilty. We will see more of the evidence that they have against him and what the defenses may be. But it's just, again, a very interesting development of what is a very, very sad case. Regina Ward, thank you. Thank you.

And that's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should get your podcasts. You can follow me on X or Instagram. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time. You can binge all episodes of this long crime series ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.