Man who originally faced over 60 child sex abuse charges gets 1-year deferred sentence in plea deal

GREAT FALLS, Mont. — A Montana man who originally faced dozens of felony child sex abuse charges has received a deferred sentence of one year after agreeing to a plea deal.

According to the Great Falls Tribune, William Edward Miller Jr., 51, of Great Falls, was arrested in February 2019 after a 14-year-old girl accused him and an 11-year-old boy of raping her. Later that year, he was charged with another 64 counts of felony child sex abuse after investigators found child porn and images of bestiality on his devices, the newspaper reported.

But Miller later reached a plea deal with prosecutors that dismissed the majority of the charges. He ended up pleading guilty to one count each of felony child sex abuse and misdemeanor unsworn falsification, the Tribune reported.

On Monday, Cascade County District Judge Elizabeth Best handed down two concurrent sentences in the case: a yearlong deferred sentence with unsupervised probation for the felony and six months in county detention for the misdemeanor, according to the newspaper. In the latter sentence, the judge also credited Miller with more than a year of time served.

Under a deferred sentence, the felony charge could be wiped from his record if he completes his probation without breaking the law, KFBB reported.

According to the Tribune, a woman who is now Miller's wife was the subject of a photo that led to the felony charge.

"I ask that we be free of this charge," the now 19-year-old woman, who was 17 at the time the photo was taken, told Best. "I feel that we have suffered enough, and I am not a victim of my husband."

The woman also claimed that she was the one who took the photo, the Tribune reported.

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