Pastor Arrested Months After Wife’s Mysterious Death
Pastor John-Paul Miller, the head of Solid Rock at Market Common in South Carolina, is scheduled for a bond hearing in Myrtle Beach on Thursday after being arrested and charged with third-degree assault. The arrest followed a confrontation with a protestor outside his church, according to reports.
Myrtle Beach Police responded to a disturbance on the 700 block of Hemlock Avenue on Wednesday afternoon, where they found a situation involving Miller and a woman outside the church. Footage from the scene shows a heated exchange between the two, with Miller allegedly making a motion that angered the woman, leading her to claim that he had physically touched her. The police later indicated that while the situation was under control, they would maintain a visible presence in the area.
The arrest occurred just days after the FBI executed a court-approved operation at a property linked to Miller, seizing multiple boxes of evidence, including computer equipment. This follows the tragic death of Miller’s wife, Mica Miller, who took her life in April 2024. Before her death, Mica had filed for divorce in October 2023, citing unspecified reasons. The divorce proceedings were dismissed in February, though both Mica and John-Paul filed for “Separate Support and Maintenance” afterward.
Mica Miller had a history of mental health challenges, including bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, which she struggled to manage. John-Paul Miller has said they tried to manage her condition with medication, though Mica sometimes struggled with the side effects, including weight gain and speech issues. The couple’s difficult relationship with her mental health was complicated by an incident earlier in the year when a friend suggested through prayer that Mica’s illness could be cured, which led her to stop her medication.
In the wake of Mica’s death, her sister, Sierra Francis, filed an affidavit suggesting that Mica had been hopeful about her divorce and expressed fear about her life being taken before it was finalized. According to Francis, Mica had shared her fears with family members, even stating that if she were to die from a gunshot wound, it would not be by her own hand, but allegedly from John-Paul Miller. This information adds to the complexity surrounding Mica’s tragic death and the subsequent arrest of her husband.