A basketball coach who ran a school out of his East Los Angeles home was arrested on suspicion sexual battery and recording nude images of his players in his bathroom, authorities said Tuesday.
Michael Robert Miller, 50, who used to coach at Los Angeles City College for 17 years, according to the high school’s website, was arrested Monday based on an 11-month investigation by Los Angeles police. Three players allegedly told police Miller touched them inappropriately.
One of Miller’s basketball players gave police a memory card taken from a camera found in the bathroom, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Police said Miller owned and operated Los Angeles College Preparatory Academy, a program for aspiring college athletes that was run out of his home. The LAPD’s Sexually Exploited Child Unit began investigating Miller in November, police said.
“The investigation commenced after several of Miller’s players reported being secretly recorded on video in Miller’s residential bathroom,” police stated. “It was also brought to the attention of detectives that there were possible minors involved,” police said.
All of the would-be victims were adults, police said.
Miller also used to coach at Ribet Academy and Cathedral High School.
In September, prosecutors in the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office filed nine charges against Miller, including eight counts of illegally secretly filming the players without their permission, and one count of sexual battery. Miller could face a sentence of six months in jail on each count, the city attorney’s office reported.
Jail records show he was released on $50,000 bail.
— City News Service