Jefferson County Sex Offender Accused of New Child Sex Crimes

ST. LOUIS - A registered sex offender living in Park Hills, Missouri has been arrested after having been indicted and accused of child enticement and child pornography offenses.

Reginald M. Miller, 56, of Park Hills, Missouri, appeared in U.S. District Court in St. Louis court Tuesday and pleaded not guilty. Miller was indicted by a grand jury on July 10 with six felonies: enticement and coercion of a minor as a repeat offender, attempted travel with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct as a repeat offender, solicitation of child pornography as a prior offender, receiving child pornography as a prior offender, transfer of obscene material to a minor and commission of a felony involving a minor as a prior offender.

The indictment accuses Miller of attempting to coerce a minor under the age of 15 into engaging in sexual activity, crossing state lines to engage in a sex act with someone younger than 15, soliciting images containing child pornography, receiving images containing child pornography and sending picture of his genitals, all between Dec. 1, 2023, and April 29, 2024.

The LaSalle Police Department, LaSalle County Sheriff's Office, Park Hills Police Department and FBI's St. Louis Division investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson is prosecuting the case.

The enticement charge is punishable by at least 10 years in prison and not more than three life sentences. The attempted travel charge is punishable by up to 90 years in prison. The solicitation of child pornography as a prior offender is punishable by between 15 and 40 years in prison.

Charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Department of Justice Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.