A Canadian pastor allegedly drove to the United States during the summer of 2013 and sexually assaulted a teenage girl at a hotel, federal prosecutors said.
Now, a decade later, after the victim decided to look up the pastor online, it has been accused and imprisonedaccording to a news release from the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan.
“Thanks to his courage in coming forward years later, we were able to arrest him and prevent further victimization of other minors,” US Attorney Dawn Ison said in the statement.
Timothy Milley, a 69-year-old pastor from Toronto, allegedly began communicating with the victim, then a 15-year-old Michigan resident, through an online chat room, court documents show.
McClatchy News could not immediately reach an attorney for Milley for comment.
After several months of preparing her, Milley allegedly drove from Ontario to Trenton, Michigan, in the summer of 2013 to meet her, court records show. He allegedly picked her up outside her high school and drove her to a Best Western hotel in a neighboring town.
He is accused of sexually assaulting the victim before telling her “we can’t be together,” according to court documents. When asked to clarify what Milley meant, the victim told investigators: “She was 15 years old. He was a predator that broke the law.”
Milley then reportedly dropped the victim off in Trenton and the couple’s communication subsided afterward, according to court records.
The victim, now 22, said she mistrusts everyone and is in a “dark place” as a result of the alleged abuse, court documents show. She recently looked up Milley online to express her feelings and discovered that he had been arrested in Canada for soliciting a minor.
After learning of his charges, the victim reported Milley to the US Department of Homeland Security and was arrested shortly thereafter and charged with traveling in foreign commerce to have sex with a minoraccording to an earlier press release from the Department of Justice.
Milley was sentenced June 1 to 10 years in prison, authorities said.
“People who prey on children, especially those in positions of public trust, should expect to be held fully accountable for their actions,” Angie Salazar, special agent in charge of Detroit Homeland Security Investigations, said in the statement. .
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