A Maine family is cautioning parental guardians across the nation after their young children were victimized by a man from Valencia who has been convicted of multiple charges of child sexual assault in two states.

Back in May of 2019, Avery Miller 28, from Valencia was caught sexually assaulting a friend’s 5-year-old daughter in Auburn, Maine, launching the family into a nightmare that has ballooned into a multistate child sexual assault investigation.

A Trusted Family Friend

Miller became friends with the Grant family back in 2016, when the family moved back to Maine due to medical issues plaguing one of the family’s young children, according to Michael Grant.

“Miller was friends with a family we met while living at a motel,” Grant said. “During a cookout for my birthday, this person showed up, and was introduced to me as ’big kid’ because he acted like a big kid.”

At the time, Miller was moving back and forth between Maine and Idaho, working as a traveling camp counselor and nanny, according to Grant.

During the time when Miller was in Maine, he would live with the family and their five children, Grant said.

In early May 2019, Miller was once again staying with the Grants, when the children’s mother caught Miller sexually assaulting the couple’s 5-year-old daughter.

“My wife caught him with our daughter under a blanket with his hand down her pants,” Grant said. “She kicked him out of the house. I was sleeping when it happened and she didn’t tell me about it until the next day. I’m glad she didn’t wake me up because I would have done something to him I would have regretted.”

The next day, Miller reportedly returned to the home, “claiming he didn’t do anything,” according to Grant.

“It was at that point my wife explained to me what had happened,” Grant said.

Miller denied the claims of sexual assault, and offered to “prove” the allegations were untrue by taking a polygraph exam. Grant was reluctant to have Miller’s life potentially ruined if the claims turned out to be untrue, and agreed.

“He failed the first test,” Grant said. “He had to wait almost two weeks before taking the second one.”

Miller was supposed to bring the second set of test results to Grant on May 27, however, he never showed, Grant recalled.

“On May 29, I saw in a newspaper that Miller was arrested down the street from my house on the 27th for being a fugitive of justice out of state,” Grant said.

A police officer had pulled Miller over because his car’s registration had expired in 2017. The subsequent background check revealed that Miller had a warrant out for his arrest from Jerome County, Idaho. Miller was immediately extradited to face charges over 2,700 miles away.

Jerome County, Idaho

Once Grant learned that Miller had been extradited to Idaho, he called the Jerome County District Attorney’s Office and discovered he was wanted for sexual assault involving a child, but officials could not give any specific details.

It was at this point that the Grant family filed a complaint with the Auburn Police Department involving the sexual assault of their own children.

Miller served six months in an Idaho jail until he plead guilty to the assault of a child there in October  2019. Soon after, detectives from Auburn traveled to Idaho to collect Miller for their own investigation.

Return To Auburn, Maine

Once Miller returned to Maine he was put on house arrest.

“It wasn’t house arrest like I am used to,” Grant said. “I’m used to you having a bracelet and you are not allowed to leave your house. Here, he didn’t have a bracelet and was told by the judge just to not leave the house.”

For over a year, the Grant family frequently saw Miller out and about, even driving past their house.

It was not until early May of 2022 that the Grant family finally caught Miller on film at a local Walmart and quickly turned it into the local law enforcement.

Law enforcement responded to where Miller was supposed to be on house arrest and discovered he was not home. He was arrested the next day, which was what prompted the Androscoggin County courts to begin his trial.

On May 1i, 2022, Miller was convicted on eight felony counts for his crimes against the Grant children, and was found guilty at trial of six counts of unlawful sexual contact, each charge a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison, according to the Sun Journal.

“The two other charges were dropped because one of my daughters broke down and was not able to testify,” Grant said.

In Idaho, Miller had faced an additional charge of “injury against a child” because the 8-year-old boy he had allegedly assaulted was so traumatized he was unable to testify.

However, despite similar circumstances, Maine prosecutors have not selected to file an equivalent charge against Miller, even though Grant’s daughter was too upset to testify.

“(Maine) seems to cater more to the criminals and not the victims, it’s pretty sad,” Grant said.

Due to Miller traveling through the country for work over the past several years, Grant is afraid that there are other victims of Miller that have not yet come forward, and encourages them or their families to contact local law enforcement to seek justice.

Miller has not yet been sentenced in Maine and is scheduled to appear in court at a later date.

Ed. Note: Louie Diaz and Jade Aubuchon collaborated on this article.

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