ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp on Monday sentenced a man who recorded his sexual abuse of two underage girls to 50 years in prison.“You’re not going to get out again,” Judge Schelp told Richard James Miller.
“You’re not going to get an opportunity to victimize someone else.”Miller, 41, recorded his sexual abuse of the two juveniles between Jan. 1, 2022, and May 24, 2024. One victim told investigators that her abuse began when she was 15. The other said she began spending time in Miller’s apartment when she was 8 or 9 years old. Miller initially told her to undress so that he could take pictures of her and send them to friends.In statements read to Judge Schelp Monday, both victims said Miller threatened to kill their relatives.
One said he threatened to make her watch as he killed her two dogs.In court, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle Bateman told Judge Schelp that although a third juvenile victim was not presenting a statement, she was abused in the same way.Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations learned of Miller in 2024, when the court-approved search of a New Jersey man’s home uncovered Kik messenger chats with Miller. Images constituting child sexual abuse material were found in the chats. Investigators located and interviewed Miller, who admitted engaging in sex acts with young girls at his home in the past.
He also admitted distributing photos of one of the victims in a Kik group chat.Miller, of St. Francois County, Missouri, pleaded guilty in February to two counts of production of child pornography.Homeland Security Investigations, the Park Hills Police Department and the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Division of Drug and Crime Control investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle Bateman prosecuted the case.This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.
For more information, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.