Myrtle Beach pastor John-Paul Miller says rape allegations are false, files defamation suit
Myrtle Beach pastor John-Paul Miller, who has been a person of public contention since his wife, Mica Miller, committed suicide last year, has counter-sued a woman who said he raped her as a minor.
On March 19, Miller filed a defamation suit against Jane Doe 1. The anonymous woman sued Miller, his father Reginald Wayne Miller and their various churches for negligence, civil conspiracy, infliction of emotional damage and assault at the end of February.
Mercy Church pastor John-Paul Miller and his lawyer Russell Long declined to comment on the matter.
In John-Paul Miller’s counter suit, he alleges all claims Jane Doe 1 made are false. The suit says the woman has made “social media appearances” which has caused others to further slander the pastor’s name.
The lawsuit filed by Jane Doe 1 stated that John-Paul Miller raped her at Wayne Miller’s church in 1998 when she was 15 and he was 19, The Sun News reported. Doe repressed this memory until 2023 when John-Paul Miller stuck his hand down her pants while going in for a hug, the suit said.
“At the time, she did not fully comprehend the nature of what had happened to her or the extent of the harm it caused. The trauma was deeply buried, and for decades, she had no conscious recollection of the assault,” the lawsuit said.
Miller is requesting injunctions that require Jane Doe 1 to remove defamatory online comments and stop making “false statements,” as well as for her to pay his legal fees and an award for punitive damages.
At the beginning of March, a second woman, Jane Doe 2, filed a lawsuit against the same group, alleging John-Paul Miller sexually assaulted her when she attended Wayne Miller’s Christian school. When she spoke up about the abuse, the Millers punished her, The Sun News reported.
Jane Doe 2 said she repressed her trauma until she learned of Mica Miller’s suicide. Mica Miller, John-Paul Miller’s estranged wife, killed herself in a North Carolina state park in April 2024. After her death, her family alleged John-Paul Miller abused her, which he had denied.
Mica’s death started a Justice for Mica movement, with protesters gathering outside Solid Rock Church in Myrtle Beach during service every week. John-Paul Miller closed Solid Rock in November and now leads a new congregation called Mercy Church, The Sun News reported.
The FBI searched John-Paul Miller’s home in November, although it is unknown why. The Sun News has not received requested documents related to the search.
