The former acting chief of the beleaguered King City Police Department pleaded no contest Monday to two misdemeanor charges.
Bruce Miller, formerly a police captain then the acting chief, was arrested in February 2014 along with retired chief Nick Baldiviez, four other KCPD officers, and Miller's brother, Brian Miller, who operated a towing company in King City.
The Millers and Officer Bobby Carrillo were alleged to have coordinated a towing scheme together, in which Carrillo targeted mostly poor, undocumented drivers, impounded their vehicles, called in Miller's to tow the lion's share of those cars, then kept some and gave some away as gifts.
But in Bruce Miller's no-contest plea Monday, he didn't admit to having any direct role in the towing scheme. He pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor charges: for one, lying on DMV forms to say he'd paid $500 to Carrillo for a Nissan Maxima, when in fact he'd been given that car for free. (That car, which came from Miller's Towing, was acquired through an asset forfeiture case, rather than the alleged towing scheme.)
The second misdemeanor, conspiracy, focuses on Miller accepting that free car as a gift from Carrillo then turning a blind eye to the ongoing towing scheme.
But even after the plea, Miller's attorney, Juliet Peck, said that the Nissan didn't influence Miller's disciplinary actions.
"There's certainly no dispute that Bruce Miller could've done a better job paying attention to what was going on with the conduct of Bobby Carrillo," Peck says.
"We do not concede there was any quid pro quo in exchange for that vehicle…Hindsight is 20/20."
As soon as DA investigators started asking about Carrillo's scheme, Peck adds, Miller turned the car in. He'd intended to buy it for his son, but after it took around $1,000 to get it up and running, Carrillo agreed not to charge him for the car. (He still recorded paying $500 on the DMV forms, the root of the DMV-related charge.)
The plea deal also means the court won't have to decide on a lingering question about how to handle a trial for two defendants; prosecutors wanted one jury to decide on both cases simultaneously, while Miller's attorneys were seeking two separate trials.
Carrillo's case still continues. He's scheduled to appear in court again Aug. 11. Miller has agreed to testify in the case against Carrillo. He was scheduled to testify Monday in the trial of Nick Baldiviez, the retired chief of KCPD, who's alleged to have illegally given a tricked-out police car to Officer Mario Mottu, Sr.
Miller is due to be sentenced on Sept. 15.
He faces a maximum of one and a half years in jail for the crimes he pleaded no contest to, but will request a home confinement alternative as part of the plea deal. He faces up to $2,000 in fines.
As part of his plea deal, Miller agreed not to pursue police work ever again.
Shortly after being arrested last year, he retired.