A 44-year-old man who admitted to groping a teenager at a community pool in a Hugo housing development last summer has been put on probation for four years.

Jeremy John Miller (Courtesy of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office)

Jeremy John Miller, of Hugo, was sentenced Wednesday in Washington County District Court after pleading guilty to fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct of a minor in connection with the July 28 incident in the Water’s Edge housing development.

A second count against Miller involving another teenager was dismissed at sentencing as part of a plea deal he reached with prosecutors. His sentence includes a stay of imposition, which means the felony conviction will be considered a misdemeanor if he successfully completes probation.

According to the criminal complaint, a 14-year-old girl told deputies July 28 that a man approached her at the pool in the 15000 block of Farnham Avenue North and made comments about wanting a girlfriend. Shortly afterward he swam underwater toward her and groped her. When she kicked to get away from him, he followed her and grabbed her foot.

The girl said she got out of the pool and told him to stop doing what he was doing. She said he responded that he was trying to get his daughter, who was also in the pool.

Video footage at the pool showed Miller then approached the girl and, as she tried to back away and told him to stop, he grabbed her and threw her into the water.

A 13-year-old boy at the pool that day said the man also came up to him from behind and “bear hugged” him, running his hands down the boy’s body and grabbing his crotch, the complaint read.

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