http://www.newsnet14.com/2009/05/pbg-band-teacher-pulled-girl-from-class-for-sex/

By CHRISTINA DeNARDO, KIMBERLY MILLER and BILL DiPAOLO

Palm Beach Post Staff Writers

Friday, May 08, 2009

Heath Miller's band room at H.L. Watkins Middle School was both a haven and a hell.

Heath Miller

A personal den where Palm Beach County School District police say the 34-year-old music teacher lured female students for unprotected sex, possibly for years.

Miller was jailed last month on charges of having sex with one student and fondling others.

On Thursday, he was slammed with a dozen more charges, including rape, after additional victims came forward, tearing down a small empire the charismatic Miller had built for himself at the Palm Beach Gardens school.

It was a place where, according to a school police investigative report, female teachers spoke openly about his reputation for having "threesomes" with other teachers.

He had multiple affairs with women in the school, including a Watkins math teacher who told police her rendezvous with Miller also occurred in the band uniform room, the report said. And he had sex with two eighth-graders and fondled two others, it said.

He became so bold that, by the end, he pulled one girl from her remedial reading class with no explanation and raped her in April, the report said. Days later, he barged into a guidance counselor's office where the girl sat crying and asked the counselor to leave. The counselor refused.

Police also say he tried to coerce an adult mistress to ask victims to recant their reports to police.

Through it all, Miller remained an admired, even "adored" figure by most.

In 2007, he was voted the most popular teacher, having arrived at the school just two years earlier. Girls interviewed by police said they didn't want to say anything against Miller because he had "done so much for them."

Police noted in their report that the girls' testimony may cause "each of them great difficulty in their future and within the black community, as Mr. Miller is highly respected and considered by many as a role model."

"You trust him so much, you don't think he will do you like that," one of his alleged victims told police.

Catherine Sampson, whose daughter attended Watkins until this year, said she believes the girls who spoke with police might be lying.

"He was one of my daughter's favorite teachers," Sampson said.

Miller "brought out the best in all his students," said parent Joanne Seifel, whose son was in Miller's chorus two years ago. "He was a great mentor. My memories of him are nothing but positive."

Psychologists, who have not treated Miller, said that based on the police account, his brazen behavior escalated as he got away with more and more, until finally he was caught.

"His arrogance is his downfall," said Mark Barnett, a clinical psychologist in Palm Beach Gardens. "He's been improving his skills over the years."

Barnett and psychologist Bert Diament, also of Palm Beach Gardens, liken Miller's behavior to that of cult leaders such as David Koresh or Jim Jones.

"Cultishly charismatic" is how Barnett describes it.

"No one wants to bring him down because they know everyone will hate them," he said.

All of the girls' reports follow an incident in February when Miller shot a man dead in his Wellington home after the man broke in early one morning.

While teachers say they were having sex with Miller as early as October 2007, the first case involving a student came to light April 16, when a bus driver told school police about a girl on her route who complained Miller had molested her.

Additional students came forward after Miller's arrest on April 20. Their interviews subsequently led investigators to a Watkins teacher who said she had sex with Miller with the permission of Miller's wife. Another teacher who admitted to having sex with Miller in her classroom said it was not consensual, and that she was intimidated by him.

A third woman also admitted to having consensual sex with Miller with his wife's permission and said Miller asked her to call the girls he allegedly molested and tell them to recant their stories.

Police say they also are investigating reports that Miller had sex with girls who are now in high school.

H.L. Watkins Principal Ann Wark said Friday that she was doing her best to keep the school running normally.

Miller, who has remained in jail since his arrest, faces charges including sexual battery by someone in a position of authority, five counts of lewd and lascivious molestation, three counts of obstruction and two counts of evidence tampering and trespassing, according to the arrest report.

Miller denied having sex with students and told police that one of the girls had kissed him.

The attorney representing Miller on the April 20 charges, Barry Maxwell, could not be reached for comment.

Miller is being held without bail and is not allowed to contact the victims. He is on paid administrative leave from the school district pending the outcome of the criminal proceeding.

"I don't know if he will be fired before or after (the criminal investigation), but he is going to be fired," Palm Beach County Schools Superintendent Art Johnson said Friday. "It is the ultimate betrayal on the part of a teacher."