On Wednesday (March 5), a South Carolina woman filed a lawsuit claiming that embattled Pastor John-Paul Miller sexually assaulted her twice between 1999 and 2001. At the time, “Jane Doe #2” was a 14-year-old student and Miller was a 19-year-old teacher at Cathedral Hall Academy, a Christian school operated by Miller’s father, Pastor Reginald “Wayne” Miller.
As defendants, the lawsuit names John-Paul Miller, Reginald Wayne Miller, and their three ministries: All Nations Cathedral Church, Solid Rock Ministries, and Cathedral Hall Academy (CHA). Grounds for the complaint include negligence, civil conspiracy, assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and violating the South Carolina Fair Trade Practices Act.
Editor’s note: This article refers to reports of child sexual assault, which some readers might find triggering and/or disturbing.
According to the 46-page lawsuit filed in Horry County, the father-son pair “presented themselves as devout religious leaders” in Myrtle Beach, “but this image was a lie.” The men used a “religious façade” to engage in “sexual abuse and predatory conduct—often targeting minors,” the suit continues. “They used their positions of power to manipulate and exploit vulnerable victims while concealing their actions from the public.”
Lack of protection for minors was “part of a calculated plan to groom victims,” stated the lawsuit, “while simultaneously gaining the community’s trust and financial support.”
Last month, an anonymous woman (now known as Jane Doe #1) sued John-Paul Miller, accusing him of raping her in 1998, when she was 15, and sexually assaulting her again in 2023.
Second Woman Alleges Sexual Assault by John-Paul Miller, Coverup by His Father
As ChurchLeaders has reported, in April 2024 John-Paul Miller told his South Carolina congregation that his wife, Mica, had died by suicide. Officials concurred with that cause of death, but Mica’s friends and family members alleged she was in an “abusive marriage.”
John-Paul Miller has denied allegations of domestic abuse and threatened to sue anyone who tries to link him to his wife’s death. Protesters frequented Miller’s church, Solid Rock, demanding “Justice for Mica.” Last November, Miller was charged with third-degree assault of a protester. After selling the Solid Rock building for more than $2 million, the pastor reportedly launched a new congregation.
In this week’s court filing, Jane Doe #2 said headlines about Mica Miller’s death caused memories of her own abuse by John-Paul to surface. Enrolling at CHA in 1999 was akin to walking into a “nightmare,” the plaintiff noted, because it “was not a school, it was a trap.”
, a South Carolina woman filed a lawsuit claiming that embattled Pastor John-Paul Miller sexually assaulted her twice between 1999 and 2001. At the time, “Jane Doe #2” was a 14-year-old student and Miller was a 19-year-old teacher.){kind=link}