Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
- A U.S. Army recruiter, Dale Allen Miller, was arrested for investigation of grooming a 16-year-old girl.
- Miller is accused of forcible sexual abuse and providing tobacco to a minor.
WEST VALLEY CITY — A recruiter for the U.S. Army has been arrested and accused of trying to groom a 16-year-old girl.
Dale Allen Miller, 39, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on Monday for investigation of forcible sexual abuse and providing tobacco to a minor.
The investigation began in November when the owner of a West Valley boxing gym called police "to report that an instructor who's an Army recruiter was having an inappropriate relationship with one of the teenage students," according to a police booking affidavit.
The owner told police he started a collaboration with the Army in September in which Miller would "show students different drill exercises and other career path options." West Valley police say Miller worked at the U.S. Army Recruiting Center in Taylorsville.
Other students, however, later told the owner that Miller "was getting too close" to a 16-year-old girl in the class. The students said the teen and Miller would walk away together after class; she would sit in his vehicle and he would buy her cigarettes, the affidavit states.
When questioned, the teen told officers that Miller "would constantly buy her cigarettes and that, at times, he would try to hug her from behind … and he would always try to initiate physical touch with her," according to the affidavit.
Miller would also "talk to her about his sex life and other inappropriate topics of conversation and that he has mentioned possible intercourse with her," the affidavit alleges.
In December, during a formal police interview, the girl "informed she was groomed and wasn't telling anyone about it until last month," according to the arrest report. "(She) said at first it wasn't anything inappropriate, it was about what she'd have to do to enlist. But when he pulled her away, he started telling her about really inappropriate things that he had (done) in the military. ... (She) said it went on from there, but it kept escalating. ... (She) said that she felt like she was being groomed."
The teen said the conversations eventually weren't about the military at all and became sexual. She also told detectives that Miller inappropriately touched her, the affidavit says.
Miller was questioned Monday and denied the allegations. He was then booked into jail.
