Child Molester Unhappy About Way Return Publicized Town’s Police Chief Says People Entitled To Know

Police went door to door, notified school officials and took ads in the newspaper to warn everyone that Arthur Miller, 89, had returned to Livingston after being released from prison.

Miller is a child molester, and Police Chief Steve McCann says people are entitled to know.

The aggressive approach of notifying the public when sex offenders move to Livingston is a new department policy and well within the department’s legal rights, but few others do it, McCann said.

“We have a sex offender living in the city, and I think citizens have a right to know that,” said McCann. “When (sex offenders) register with the department, we’re going to notify the public.”

Miller, a former ranch hand and city worker, admitted in 1993 that he had fondled two young boys at his Livingston home earlier that year. During sentencing, prosecutors said Miller had a 40-year unproven record of sexually assaulting children, a charge Miller denied then and now.

He was sentenced to the minimum of four years in the state prison at Deer Lodge, but because of his age he was not required to enroll in the prison’s sex offender counseling programs.

Last Dec. 31, Miller was given a full discharge from prison, meaning he is not required to check in with probation officers or enroll in counseling, according to court records.

However, a 1989 state law requires Miller to register as a sex offender with the Livingstone Police Department. He is one of 15 registered sex offenders in Park County and among 1,567 sex and violent offenders registered statewide.

But Miller and his family believe he is being singled out, and that the department’s new policy is unfair.

“With the type of discharge they gave me I ought to be left alone,” Miller told the Livingston Enterprise in a brief interview.

He maintained his innocence, although he admitted pinching the victims’ on their exposed buttocks - an act that he said does not constitute sexual assault.

Miller’s niece, Sharon Miller, said the new policy just adds to the difficulty all criminals have adjusting to life in the mainstream.

“He’s paid his dues for the crime … and I believe children should be protected as much as possible,” Miller said Friday. “But how far does this go? When is it no longer a point of notifying the public, but of public harassment?”