DENVER — A jury has found a former Loveland police officer guilty in federal court of sexually assaulting a teenager while on duty during the summer of 2023. Dylan Miller, now 30, was convicted of a Color of Law violation on December 2 after a 10-day trial and over 13 hours of jury deliberation.
Miller was arrested in early November 2023 in Larimer County after a teen and her family reported that he sexually assaulted the girl at a Loveland park earlier that year. He was federally indicted in March 2024 and accused of the Color of Law violation.
Color of Law is a federal statute that makes it a crime for anyone to abuse their legal power or authority to deprive someone of their rights. In this case, the jury determined that Miller’s actions involved sexual abuse and kidnapping, though not aggravated sexual abuse.
Miller faces a maximum sentence of life in prison in the federal case. Because the maximum sentence Miller faces is life in prison, U.S. District Court Judge Nina Wang was required under federal law to order Miller be taken into federal custody following the jury’s verdict.
Reid Elkus, one of Miller’s defense attorneys, said while he understood Miller would likely be taken into custody, he noted that he believed Miller was not a flight risk, has attended and complied with all court hearings and probation requirements, and was not a threat to the community.
Wang disagreed that Miller was not considered a threat to the community, now that Miller has been convicted and the victim remains in the community.
Elkus said the defense plans on filing a motion for acquittal. Miller’s sentencing hearing will be set at a later date.
Victims, Witnesses and Experts Testify in 10-Day Trial
During the federal trial, the jury determined that Miller deprived the then-15-year-old victim in this case, who went by the alias Olivia throughout the trial, of her rights when he forced her to perform oral sex on him at North Lake Park just after midnight on August 4, 2023.
Miller’s defense attorneys criticized this case for being “based on Olivia’s words alone,” claiming she was an “unreliable narrator.” In closing arguments, Miller’s defense attorney, Kristen Frost, called this a “biased, incomplete and unjust investigation” that was “fueled by Olivia’s inconsistencies.”
Throughout the trial, Frost and Reid Elkus, another attorney for Miller, highlighted those inconsistencies for the jury, including Olivia’s initial report that the assault occurred in late July 2023, instead of August 4, 2023, and that her description of the officer who assaulted her did not exactly match Miller.
Miller’s defense attorneys also challenged Olivia’s credibility, eliciting testimony from witnesses about how Olivia often snuck out past curfew — as she did the night of the assault — and struggled in school.
But Alecia Riewerts, one of the prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, challenged the jury in her closing statement to not fall for the defense’s attempt to distract them with “red herrings” or small inconsistencies with Olivia’s story when Olivia stayed consistent on several key details.
“Each time she was required to talk about the facts of her sex assault, she was consistent that he put his penis in her mouth against her will,” Riewerts said, and during the investigation “record after record law enforcement got back strengthened the case” against Miller.
What Charges Is Dylan Miller Facing in District Court?
Miller faces the following charges in an ongoing district court case:
- First-degree kidnapping, a Class 2 felony
- Sexual assault on a child while in a position of trust, a Class 3 felony
- Unlawful sexual conduct by a police officer, a Class 3 felony
- Sexual assault, a Class 6 felony
- Official oppression, a Class 1 misdemeanor
- First-degree official misconduct, a Class 2 misdemeanor
“We are grateful that the victim in this case, was able to tell her story to a federal court and hope this verdict brings her closer towards healing on this case,” said Kylie Massman, spokesperson for the Larimer County District Attorney’s Office. “We also hope that it provides some level of closure for the city of Loveland for an extreme violation of trust. We appreciate our partners at the US Attorneys Office for pursuing this case using the more expansive legal avenues they have given the severity of this offense. Our case remains open and we will work with the victim as we evaluate the verdict and the ultimate sentence in deciding how best to proceed.”
Loveland Police Department spokesperson Chris Padgett declined to comment on the federal verdict due to the pending case in Larimer County.
Miller’s attorneys did not immediately return a Coloradoan request for comment on the outcome of the federal case.
Miller is next scheduled to appear in court in Larimer County on December 8.
The verdict in Miller’s federal trial does not legally impact his case in Larimer County. He is presumed innocent of the charges he faces in his Larimer County case until proven guilty in court.
This story has been updated with additional information.
