A suspended Ohio University football player accused of felony-level stalking violated his bond last week after he was arrested by the OU Police Department.
Amir Miller, 22, was charged with a first-degree misdemeanor count of menacing by stalking and a first-degree misdemeanor count of violating a protection order on Thursday (Oct 3) in Athens County Municipal Court. He pleaded not guilty to those charges the following day.
Miller previously pleaded not guilty in Athens County Common Pleas Court after being indicted in mid-September on a fourth-degree felony count of menacing by stalking; a third-degree felony count of having weapons while under disability; a fifth-degree felony count of permitting drug abuse; and a fifth-degree felony count of forgery. He was released on his own recognizance, so long as he remained a law-abiding citizen.
However, after violating that bond last week upon being arrested, Miller appeared in Athens County Common Pleas Court on Friday (Oct. 4) and was given a $100,000 bond with no 10 percent allowed by Athens County Common Pleas Judge Patrick Lang. He has since posted that bond and been released from jail, Athens County Assistant Prosecutor Liz Pepper said this week.
Pepper said that the new charges against Miller came after he allegedly put himself in the path of the victim in the stalking case as she was walking from one class to another on OU’s campus (she is a student as well).
“There was an eyewitness to this who provided a witness statement to the OU Police Department,” Pepper said. “He had (also) been driving by her apartment in the late hours of the night on multiple occasions.”
Despite being charged with four felony-level crimes and being newly charged with two new misdemeanor charges, Miller is still an OU student, Pepper said. She added that the victim has obtained a protection order against Miller out of Cuyahoga County in Ohio, and that’s why he was charged with violation of that protection order last week.
OU spokesperson Carly Leatherwood said Friday that, “I am unable to provide details of decisions made regarding a specific student.” She did note that OU’s Student Code of Conduct has a provision regarding measures to protect students and others on campus when a student is under “interim suspension,” but she did not explain whether Miller is under that suspension or not.
OU spokesperson Jim Sabin previously said that Miller was suspended from the football team after he was indicted.
“We are aware of the situation, and Ohio University Athletics has made the decision to suspend Amir Miller from the football team and all team-related activities, effective immediately,” Sabin said Wednesday. “Out of respect for the legal process, we will withhold further comment until the appropriate time.”
Pepper said she has “serious concerns” about safety for the victim and her friends on OU’s campus while Miller is out on bond.
She additionally alleged that the victim and a friend of hers said that while walking on Court Street recently, they witnessed a group of football players chanting Miller’s name at them from across the street.