Former Coldwater resident held on $500K bond in sexual abuse cases
BRANCH COUNTY — Former Coldwater resident David Michael Miller of LaGrange, Indiana, is facing multiple charges in Branch County after two of his 15 children told Indiana police of alleged years of sexual abuse following a Michigan State Police investigation.
The 3-A District Court ordered the 54-year-old held on $500,000 bond during a Saturday arraignment on three counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct, three counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct, two counts each of gross indecency between males and of accosting children for immoral purposes.
If convicted, the third-degree CSC requires mandatory prison for up to 15 years. The other charges have maximums of four and two years.
The oldest son, now in his late 20s, told Indiana probation officers of the alleged abuse by the father, which started in 2008 in Coldwater when he was 11 or 12.
Another brother also described the alleged abuse he suffered by the father until they both moved from the family homes.
A lengthy report from MSP Det/Sgt. Matt Berry stated Miller was very controlling and manipulative. All the children were home-schooled and not allowed to have friends outside of the home.
Miller’s ex-wife confirmed the family did not have contact with extended family and rarely went anywhere in public besides church. She told Berry her husband used fear to control her and the children.
Berry said during his time in Coldwater, Miller legally changed his name from Michael Robert Rottenstein to avoid numerous Child Protective Service investigations from Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan.
Miller, who drove a truck, took the boys with him and allegedly abused them, according to police reports.
The sons told investigators their father used the church to manipulate them, “where he would teach about many things including sexual deviance and the importance of the father being the authority of the family,” the report stated.
The oldest son moved out of the family home when he was 18 or 19. Berry reported, “He knew no other way of life and assumed that was how all families were until his later teen years when he began to experience the outside world.”
LaGrange County charged Miller with felony sexual assault. Detectives in LaGrange County also requested felony charges against Miller for possession of child sexually abusive material on electronic devices seized under a warrant.
MSP expects charges in St. Joseph County, where the family lived in Burr Oak, and also from Ohio, the police report said.
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The court appointed the public defender to represent Miller for his probable cause conference on Aug. 6 and the preliminary exam on Aug. 13.
— Contact Don Reid: dReid@Gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Coldwater Daily Reporter: David Michael Miller Branch court sexual abuse charges arrest MSP
