KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – On May 11, 2023, Everett Eugene Miller, Jr., age 56, currently of Sunbright, Tennessee, was sentenced by the Honorable Judge Katherine A. Crytzer, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee at Knoxville.

At trial, Miller was convicted on all counts in the indictment.  The indictment charged Miller with Enticement of a Minor to Engage in Sexual Activity, Transportation of a Minor to Engage in Sexual Activity, Felony Offense Involving a Minor by an Individual Required to Register as a Sex Offender, and Escape.  Miller was sentenced to life plus 120 months in prison, followed by a lifetime on supervised release.  Miller will be required to register with state sex offender registries and comply with special sex offender conditions during his supervised release.

The government’s evidence at trial proved that from July 2019 through January 2020, Miller’s minor niece was living with Miller and his wife. Miller was on the sex offender registry for sexual assaults against other children. Miller bought his niece a secret cell phone, and the two exchanged over 2900 messages. Miller told his minor niece he loved her and only wanted to be with her.  Miller further told his niece he would divorce her aunt for her, and they would be married.  From December 29, 2019, through January 2, 2020, Miller took his niece on a long-haul trucking run to New Mexico and during the trip raped her multiple times.  On August 14, 2020, while incarcerated and awaiting trial, Miller was taken to a local hospital for a procedure where he attempted to escape.

U.S. Attorney Francis M. Hamilton III of the Eastern District of Tennessee made the announcement.

The criminal indictment was the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer Kolman represented the United States.

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