Crime & Safety

DA: Man Plotted to Kill Teen After Sexual Abuse

Investigation reveals murder-for-hire plot to keep victim from testifying.

INWOOD, NY -- A local man, already charged with sexually abusing a teenaged employee, was arraigned Thursday morning for plotting to kill the employee to prevent him from testifying in the sexual abuse case.

Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced that , 45, was arraigned this morning on an indictment containing one count each of conspiracy in the second degree and criminal solicitation in the second degree. He faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted. Bail was set in the amount of $5 million bond or $2.5 million cash. He is due back in court Aug. 1.

Miller, the owner of a Santeria religious supplies store in Inwood, is currently incarcerated in the Nassau County Correctional Center after being arrested on April 19 and charged with criminal sexual act in the first degree and other charges for a 17-year-old male employee.

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The sexual assault charges are currently pending and Miller faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted.

Rice said that Nassau detectives were informed in June by a confidential source that he had information concerning a murder-for-hire plot involving Miller. The source said that he had been approached by a relative of Miller's to visit Miller at the jail.

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During the visit, Miller asked the source to arrange to have the sexual abuse victim killed, and then instructed the source to go to Miller's home for more information, Rice said.

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When the source arrived at Miller's home, he met with two of Miller's family members who provided him with documents containing the intended victim's personal information, Rice said. The source then contacted police and met with Miller at the jail.

During that meeting, Miller offered to pay the source $15,000 to arrange the killing by making it look like a cell phone robbery, Rice said. Miller told the source that his mother, a secretary at , had stolen the personal records of the intended victim from the school.

Rice said the investigation is ongoing and charges could be filed against additional suspects, including Miller's family members.

Prior to the murder-for-hire plot, Miller had asked a relative to have an unidentified man make a Voodoo doll of the victim and stick pins and knives into it, Rice said. Miller allegedly asked the man to use the victim's photo and dirt from his house to perform a ritual intended to give the victim cancer.

"Despite the devastating trauma the victim was put through at the hands of this defendant, Daniel Miller decided that it still wasn’t enough," Rice said. "When murder-for-hire plots come to light, it is essential that law enforcement move quickly to ensure the safety of the intended victim and the arrest of the person pulling the strings. Today's arraignment is the culmination of excellent investigative work by members of my office and the Nassau County Police Department’s District Attorney Squad."

The arrest information was supplied by the Nassau County District Attorney's Office. It does not indicate a conviction.


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