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John Hollenhorst reportingDistrict Attorney Lohra Miller, the top law enforcement officer in Salt Lake County, has been under intense surveillance in recent months by a private investigator who is trying to prove she is a liar. The surveillance includes placing GPS tracking devices on her family car, videotaping what appear to be parties at her home, and spying on Miller and her husband outside a bar.
Miller appeared to have tears in her eyes when we told her a private investigator had gone so far as to photograph personal items in her household trash, but she refused our request for an interview.
The surveillance video shows numerous cars parked far into the night outside Miller's family home, but no overt evidence of underage drinking on two occasions in December and January. There is even video of Miller and her husband at a local night spot at a time when there seemed to be a party going on at their home. The video was delivered to us at KSL-TV by a private eye trying to show Lohra Miller as a liar.
Todd Gabler, the private investigator, said, "We believe that minors are partying inside that house."
During a highly publicized tiff last year, District Attorney Miller disputed statements by her neighbors that she tolerated drinking parties by her kids. In November she said, "I'm saying that's not true. Call law enforcement."
The attorney general's office looked into it at Miller's request and found no evidence of criminal activity. Gabler's private agent tailed cars leaving the Miller home and saw what he described as erratic, possibly impaired, driving. And he found a police report from three years ago. Police were called to intervene when Miller's husband caught her son drinking and punished him by holding him down and cutting his hair.
Gabler says, "He drove other kids home who were drinking inside the house. That's a party to me."
But Miller interprets that incident as evidence of what she won't tolerate from her kids. "I do not condone drinking", she told us by phone. "My son got caught drinking. We punished him appropriately."
In a written statement, Miller said, "My family is like any other American family, and, as parents, we do what we can to help our children overcome the challenges that life presents."
As for the highly unusual surveillance of a public official by a private party, Gabler says she, "brought this on herself. She made public statements that she is held to a higher standard of scrutiny than other people."
Interpretations of the video are in dispute. Miller even says she and her kids were out of town during one of the alleged parties on the video. The private eye won't say who his original client was, but he claims the client dropped out, and he continued the probe on his own.
E-mail: hollenhorst@ksl.com
