New charges have been filed against Andrew "Drew" Miller, a Chiddix Junior High teacher and longtime cheerleading coach accused of soliciting sexual images and video from minors and, in at least one instance, attempting to meet in person.
McLean County Assistant State's Attorney Aaron Fredrick previously noted the state's intention to bring additional charges against 41-year-old Miller, from Normal, who has been detained since his arrest in June on 42 felony counts.
In a hearing last month determining whether Miller would remain jailed awaiting trial, Fredrick said an additional victim had come forward since the initial grand jury indictment leading to Miller's arrest, and that his office would be seeking the 14 additional counts now added to Fredrick's case. The new counts are Class 3 felonies.
In his statements, Fredrick alleged a decade-long pattern of behavior involving the solicitation of graphic photos and videos from minors who, in most instances, believed they were sending them to someone else. Prosecutors said police used metadata and file names tied to images in Miller's phone and flash drive to identify more than a dozen victims, some beyond the statute of limitations, who identified themselves in the materials and, in most cases, said they thought they'd been sent to a teenage girl named "Tiffany" online.
Prosecutors allege Miller reached out to teenage boys he met at Chiddix or cheerleading functions and posed as "Tiffany" to exchange the imagery and engage in sexual conversations.
That aligns with the more recent allegation. State's Attorney Erika Reynolds said Bloomington Police were contacted with a report of similar behavior after Miller was arrested and charged in June.
The man told police he met Miller as a teenager at Rising Stars Academy in Bloomington around 2010, during the summer before his freshman year at University High School. According to the state's attorney, Miller recruited the teen to the school's cheerleading squad, where Miller was the coach. The boy was on the squad for all four years of high school.
When he was 16 or 17, prosecutors said, the boy engaged in an online sexual relationship with a person he thought was a teenage girl named "Tiffany." When shown images found on Miller's thumb drive by investigators, the victim identified them as images of himself as a teenager that he had thought he was sending to "Tiffany."
Miller was fired from University High School in the aftermath of an unrelated incident of alleged misconduct with a teenage boy in 2019 at a sanctioned school cheer camp in LaSalle County. No charges were filed in that case, and McLean County does not have jurisdiction to prosecute the 2019 incident.
Rising Stars Academy has since closed. Miller is on unpaid administrative leave from his teaching position at Chiddix, where he was also a track and field coach.
Miller is the second teacher from Chiddix Junior High facing criminal charges relating to alleged inappropriate conduct with students at the middle school in Normal. Brandon Knapp was in court this week and will potentially face trial beginning Sept. 14 after being arrested in April on two counts of grooming.
Another cheer and tumbling coach in Bloomington-Normal, Brady Stoewer, is scheduled for sentencing Aug. 14 in an unrelated child sexual abuse case alleging misconduct said to have occurred while Stoewer worked at a different cheer gym in the Twin Cities.
Miller is scheduled for his next court appearance on July 29. McLean County State's Attorney Erika Reynolds confirmed a grand jury found probable cause on the new allegation. Miller will be arraigned on the new charges at the July 29 pretrial hearing.
Miller's attorney, Josh Rinker, responded to an email from WGLT declining to comment.
