A state case against Dylan Miller, the former Loveland Police Department officer who was found guilty of violating the civil rights of a minor who accused him of sexually assaulting her, was dismissed Thursday after conversations between the 8th Judicial District Attorney’s Office and the family of the victim.
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The decision follows a 17-year prison sentence issued by a federal court earlier this year for the same incident in which Miller was facing state charges.
The state case, according to the district attorney’s office, was unlikely to add meaningful jail time to the sentence Miller had already received after his federal trial in April, and out of a desire to avoid a second trial that could retraumatize the victim, the state case, which included charges of kidnapping and and sexual assault of a child, was dropped.
The teenage victim, who went by the pseudonym “Olivia” during the federal trial, said that on Aug. 4, 2023, Miller approached her and a friend in North Lake Park in Loveland. Miller, who was on duty at the time, asked Olivia’s friend to leave, before he guided Olivia to a more secluded section of the park and forced her to perform oral sex on him, according to an arrest affidavit from the time.
“I will forever be haunted by him and the terrible things he did to me,” she said during the trial.
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Miller was charged with first-degree kidnapping, sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust, unlawful sexual conduct by a police officer and sexual assault, all felonies, as well as misdemeanor charges of official misconduct and official oppression after an extensive investigation sparked by the victim’s family contacting law enforcement.
Shortly after Miller was charged in the 8th Judicial District in Fort Collins, the United States Attorney’s Office in Colorado brought federal charges against him, and the 8th Judicial District Attorney’s Office agreed to pause the state case until the federal case had concluded. The decision to drop the charges was announced in court on Thursday.
“Public trust in law enforcement and the criminal justice system is vital to the safety of our communities,” District Attorney Gordon McLaughlin said in a statement. “When that trust is so heinously violated by someone in a position of power as it was here, our community and victims suffer immensely. There is no sentence that would equal ‘justice’ for what Dylan Miller did, but I am proud of the collaboration among local and federal law enforcement that brought these facts to light and sought maximum accountability under the law, laws which frankly were not written to comprehend how egregious these acts were.
“And most of all, I am proud of the victim in this case, who, despite enormous barriers and at great risk to herself, came forward to tell her story to a jury and help prevent future victims.”
