The president of a South Carolina Bible college was charged last week with essentially treating foreign students as slaves by forcing them to perform work for little or no pay. According to The Sun News, federal prosecutors filed a criminal complaint against Cathedral Bible College President Reginald Wayne Miller, accusing him of forced labor. ...

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Updated by Publisher Ernest Hancock December 24th 2018

Personal Statement by Reginald Wayne Miller

IN May of 2014, I was falsely arrested by Homeland Security. During the summer I sat in prison in solitary for 22-24 hours a day, loss 40 lbs. and at the end of the summer was sent to the medical unit at J. Ruben Long. Having serious heart problems with a Defibrillator and a pacemaker, it was deemed that I should be moved so as to be closer to my physicians at Grand Strand Medical Center. My attorney and the Federal Prosecutor determined from 1,000 pages of testimony that there were no charges of False Labor and Abuse. Homeland could not believe that their agent had made such a mistake, so the students were taken to Washington to be questioned. The result is that the charges of Forced Labor and Abuse of any kind were to be dismissed, EXCEPT, that would mean that I had been falsely ARRESTED and imprisoned! Homeland then offered the following Plea bargain to my attorney: If I would plead to 2 charges of visa fraud and two charges of working longer than the 20 hour program, and 2 charges of not paying minimum wage, AND, IF I would agree that these charges came BEFORE THE FALSE LABOR AND ABUSE charges, they would agree to a sentence based on 0-6 the lowest scale on the Federal Sentencing guidelines which normally would be with no prison, and I would be free in 3-4 days from that day. Otherwise, I would have had to wait 1-2 years for a trial. Due to my health and the concern of my family with my serious heart condition with a defibrillator and pacemaker, a mother in her 80's who had been greatly and negatively affected by what had happened, I pled guilty to charges that I was not guilty of so that I would not have to stay any longer in prison. 
I WAS FORCED to do this by the circumstances created by the Homeland Agent in his Abuse of Power and his actions of Obstruction of Justice. I have never understood why someone would plead guilty to something they were not guilty of, but unless you are poor, and you are in a situation that you may have to sit 2 years waiting for a trial to prove your innocence, you have to consider your health, your family, and your very life in the choice you make

 

The basis of the charges listed on the plea deal above were all based on two I-20's that I had signed which stated the student knew English on a college level in order to get a visa to come. IT WAS TRUE I HAD SIGNED THEM; but, it was also true that both of the students through documents or through their representatives had made me believe that they knew English. I have all the proof of this. When they arrived they were unable to speak English. However, as I said, considering that over the past several years I have had many incidents of heart failure and was only alive due to my defibrillator and pacemaker, I accepted the plea bargain and got out of prison. However, it should be made clear, the fraud was committed by the students involved and their representatives, not by me.
Then, when I got out and saw what David Wren and the Sun News and Ch. 15 and other media had done, I had some type of breakdown and have been under psychiatric care ever since with a Psychiatrist, counselor and various drugs. I was unable for many months to even read a complete news article because as soon as I saw a lie, I could not function. It would be months before I could even read the original accusations. It would be over a year, almost two years before I could start reading media statements that were being sent across the world by the media, with David Wren being the motor behind the vehicle.

 

David Wren has been a personal enemy since back in the 1990's, and the media allowed him to drive the train instead of sticking to the information released by the Homeland Agent. He started from his first articles to use each opportunity he wrote to add false information and false accusations and to add information that was only for the purpose of seeking to destroy my reputation, my life, my ministry. He had his own agenda and went beyond the charges and repeated false accusations from many years before, over and over and over. My plan, the whole time I was in prison, was to get out, hold a press conference, and expose what the Homeland agent had done; but, seeing how the story had been enlarged with lies and false accusations and pedaled across the state, the country and around the world, I was not able at that time to deal with it. As a direct result of the Sun News and WPDE, WBTW and the Florence News, we loss so much support in the summer [especially the story by David Wren about my possibly being in prison for life], repeating a false charge that the state has no record of, and questioning our accreditation etc. the situation was that we could not maintain the campus in Marion and had to give it up. After the plea bargain, the obituary written by David Wren and the FALSE stories on WPDE of my plea resulted in so much of a loss of support that we lost our home and all three of our buildings in Myrtle Beach had to be sold, and I could not function. Those who knew the truth did not know what to do and I just have up. WPDE should be ashamed of telling the public that I had pled guilty to the same charges that I had pled not guilty to in May of 2014. They have removed all their stories from the internet and from those who copied it, but they have never apologized or offered the opportunity to clear my name, or taken responsibility for the great financial loss.

 

The STORY should have been, "Forced Labor and Abuse charges dismissed, other charges to be treated as the least offense in Federal guidelines for sentencing purposes". This totally destroyed us because our supporters had been told the truth, that these had been dismissed with an apology by Homeland, and that I would not be going back to jail; but, the media destroyed the faith of our supporters in what was happening by their LIES. Again, when I was sentenced to no prison time, WPDE said that it was FORCED LABOR and ABUSE while the rest of the media kept totally silent and many people today think that I am in prison. WPDE even went on Facebook and asked people if they thought that the sentence was what I deserved for what I did, [remembering that they had told the people that all the false charges of Forced Labor and Abuse was what I had pled to] and of course the comments were vicious. These people and their vicious comments have never been told the truth.

 

I was sentenced as if all the charges were the least offense of sentencing on the Federal sentencing guidelines so anything else on the internet is defamation of character. I fully understand any media reporting what they were given by way of the Federal Prosecutor or the Agent who held the raid and fed the false information in the beginning. Bringing up false allegations from someone or by the media, or referring to an arrest that is not registered or was not reported or acknowledged by the state of South Carolina was nothing but an attempt at Defamation of Character. The same is true of the lie constantly saying that we had run an unaccredited academy. The same is true of repeating the false charges fed to the media in the beginning of this by the Homeland agent. The lies attributed to my first wife who told David Wren personally over 15 years ago that she did not stand behind those accusations and had signed papers she had not read. She also told him that I had been a good husband, a good father, and that as a Pastor she still tithed to my ministry. But, since it turned out that what Wren said was not the facts; then, we do expect to see every story on the internet removed. I am curious if it was David Wren who supplied to Tonya Brown the false information that I had pled guilty to the original charges. In which case, that would make it even worst for the Sun News. Again, all that David Wren has ever written about me or Cathedral Bible College should be removed from the archives of the Sun News. At least WPDE and WBTW, and a number of other media outlets have had the integrity of removing from the internet all their false stories by their reporters and David Wren.
REALLY, people are not so ignorant or maybe they are because many cannot see through what is being done. We have never been without our accreditation for the college since the 1990's when we first received it. WE transfer to over 200 other Bible Colleges. Because of the false WBTW story on accreditation, the head of the Accrediting Organization was required to come to S.C. and testify before a Grand Jury and then we had to finance an onsite inspection. All that expense because of a lie. Almost all of what was said is tied to the Sun News, The Florence Morning News, The State, and MOST OF THAT CAME FROM DAVID WREN. I and my family have suffered enough. False stories should be removed from archives.

 

We are asking for a Federal Investigation into the actions of the Homeland Agent for Abuse of Power and for Obstruction of Justice as well as to investigate why a Muslim, hired by the former administration to prosecute people for Hate Speech, particularly against Islam, was appointed as the trial lawyer. It is common knowledge that we do a lot of ministry to Muslims and in Muslim countries. It is also well known that we believe that Islam is the most evil ideology in the world today. Why was a Muslim who seemed from his involvement in his college politics who was very anti-Israeli, assigned to be the trial lawyer to prosecute a Christian Bible College and Minister? These are questions we want answered. I also want to know how the media could use David Wren as a source for information when just a few weeks before these lies and others, he was convicted by a jury of his peers as a LIAR and having DEFAMED the CHARACTER of a good man. Does the media have NO respect for the people of this state? Truth, the one and most important element of reporting the news, and you chose to report the news through the eyes of a man who is a CONVICTED LIAR by your fellow citizens. How many articles are there on the internet that calls David Wren "the poison pen" of Horry County as he was called in the courtroom? How many? NONE ! The media cannot claim that they were innocent to the fact that he had presented lies [and I am referring to anything he added to his report that was not a direct official statement from Homeland Security or the Federal Government], but even in that he falsely reported in a way to make people believe that I was going to prison when in reality the original charges had been dropped. You knew he was a convicted LIAR. They knew this and yet they allowed him to feed a story that destroyed me, my family, our students, our graduates and a life time of doing good. WE loss everything we had in buildings and property, our home, all income, and certainly our reputation took a hit. WE are expecting that every article or story that had David Wren as a source is removed from your archives and the internet immediately. Because medie outlets have been requested to remove these articles after we provided evidence that the articles were prejudiced, included false accusations etc. we are now going to the public with the truth. My family and I have suffered enough because of this "poison pen" as he was called in court, and because of a rogue agent of Homeland Security.

Reginald Wayne Miller

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FACTS OF THE CASE

During the night of May 21st 2014, Cathedral Bible College was raided by Homeland Security and the President, Reginald Wayne Miller was arrested for Forced Labor and Abuse at his home and brought to the campus for questioning. It should be mentioned that Cathedral is a recognized Church with a Bible College. It is not a terrorist organization. It is not a mosque where members had been planning terrorist activities. It is a church and a Christian Bible College that has operated for 40 years, trained hundreds for the ministry and has hosted or trained International students for nearly 20 years from a total of over 50 countries of the world. The College had been approved for VA students since the late 1970's and had trained these students for ministry for all the years since. The constant supervision of VA officials and all the reports required is evidence of a valid college that was able to transfer credits to over 200 other similar Bible Colleges and even to state colleges like Horry-Georgetown Technical College. Students have included medical doctors, nurses, school teachers, college professors, dentists, retirees, ministers, and people from all walks of life. Graduates include the mayor of a town, members of city and county councils, a state representative in New England, and of course many pastors, assistant pastors, evangelists, teachers in Christian Academies and Bible Colleges and missionaries, etc.

The night of the raid the Homeland agent told Dr. Reginald Wayne Miller that he had been sending in spies for the past few years and in the worship services trying to find something against the college. But, only now with the complaint of a few students was he able to raid the college, take off the computers of the church and college, and arrest him. However, we should note that the students only made their complaints after the agent came and took them off campus to speak with them and after an offer he made to them the lies began. We know that all Americans feel safer knowing our churches and religious schools have spies watching them that could be watching our Southern Border. Students who would make an accusation were given work permits and some were told that if they were called to testify they would be given permits that could lead to green cards and citizenship. Most of our students refused the offer to make up anything about the college, but a few including mostly some individuals who had been asked to leave the college that previous week [the week of graduation], took advantage of the bribe.

Dr. Miller was put in jail and under a $250,000 bond and remained there until Sept. 3, 2014. He was in solitary confinement 22 hours a day and lost between 30-40 lbs. and finally was moved from Effingham to the medical unit at J. Ruben Long at the end of the summer, due to concerns for his medical condition. He has a defibrillator and a pacemaker and has had heart failure numerous times including since then in March-April 2016 and June of 2017 spent 3 weeks at MUSC. His history of these problems was similar prior to 2014. During the summer of 2014, the college did not release anything to the media. The reason for this was because immediately after the raid when a staff member of the college sent emails to the student body about the raid and the false accusations of those students, he was called by the agent of Homeland Security, and told if he said anything else he would be arrested and charged with threatening their witnesses. When students of the college took to Social Media to say the same thing they too were called and threatened. With these actions by a Homeland Security agent and what had happened thus far, this Abuse of Power and Obstruction of Justice, the faculty and staff and students were afraid to speak out about the injustice that had taken place and this was the only time in the history of the college that there was an atmosphere of fear, and it came from Homeland Security.

Furthermore, the failure to return the computers in the time period as promised tremendously hurt the college and its ability to operate and along with the vicious media attack primarily coming from David Wren of the Sun News and WPDE, and a story with WBTW about our accreditation being questioned when we have had it at all times. There was great destruction to the summer and fall programs and the college. Homeland took several students into "protective custody" and this destroyed all the summer mission programs that thousands of dollars had been raised including youth conventions in Central America, missions to Nepal and ministry across Europe and into Pakistan. When a student called the Homeland agent telling them he needed a paper signed to leave the country and that he had raised and purchased $5,000 in plane tickets for a preaching Evangelistic tour across Europe and into Asia, he was asked if he would make some statement against Dr Miller and the college. He refused and he lost the opportunity to go on his mission trip and lost the $5,000 in tickets he had raised and spent. The result of false accusations released to the press and false charges of Forced Labor and Abuse cost the college such financial support that the new campus in Marion, S.C. was forced to close and eventually was sold for the mortgage payoff a few hours before it was to be sold on the courthouse steps. It is clear that from the beginning the agent had sought to destroy the Bible College. Furthermore, Dr. and Mrs. Miller lost their home and all their financial resources and were left with nothing, and the college lost over 200 students, most leaving out of fear of what had been done to the college. No salaries have been paid since the beginning of 2015, and the college is now in a rented facility operating as a free tuition college with the help of Dr. Miller and a dozen or so volunteers under a new name.

At the end of the summer after a complete investigation it was deemed that there was nothing criminal to the charges of Forced and Labor and ABUSE. There were no charges of abuse of any kind that were considered to be criminal. A high official in Homeland Security apologized to the attorney of Dr. Miller and said that they regretted that there had been a raid on the college. The government made an offer to drop those charges if Dr. Miller would plead guilty to other charges, and if he would not require them to go to a Grand Jury with the new charges. They settled for a sentence based on the scale of 0-6 which normally carried NO additional prison time,[and he had no prison time assigned] and no more than 1 year of probation when it is a first offense. Considering that it would take 1-2 years for a trial and that Dr. Miller had no funds for the bond, he gave consideration to the plea bargain offered to him because without a bond payment he would have to remain in prison until a trial. He would have probably died without ever seeing his children, his family, even his elderly mother again. The new charges were based on the fact that in two instances he had signed an I-20 form for students to come into the country on which he certified that their English ability was on a college level. However, when they arrived they did not have college level English ability on the level they should have. In both cases he was deceived into believing that they did know English when he signed the form. They had provided false information. He had a choice of sitting in prison up to 2 years before a trial so he pled to this felony and also another for the fact that some students claimed they have worked more than 20 hours in certain given weeks; however, the labor board did not show up at the sentencing to claim any overwork of hours after they had done a complete study of the situation. There were two felonies for signing the forms which was considered visa fraud and the two working for more than 20 hours was two for fraud in labor for each of these felony actions. Finally, he pled to 2 counts of failure to pay minimum wage which is what the plea bargain called for in the sentencing. In return it was written in the plea bargain that all charges would be considered on a scale of 0-6 which meant that normally there was no prison time, which is what happened. The so called investigative journalist David Wren should have announced this but instead wrote an obituary for Dr. Miller.

Concerning the allegations released to the public by the Homeland Agent:

There never was or has been forced labor at Cathedral Bible College. The college assigns students participation in ministry as part of their training for ministry. The college has had a Ministry of Helps from the earliest days of its existence where every student took some part in the work and operation of the ministry. The student's only work was that which was part of operating the college and their learning how to operate a Bible College or a church or a Christian Academy. They were not working at making license plates or some other enterprise to earn money for the college. Those who actually had JOBS were paid well, but others who were doing work as part of their training were given spending money. It is not the business of the government to tell us how to train ministers.

Students on scholarship were given free tuition, free books, free fees, free room, free meals, internet and cable, a student center that included a pool room, ping pong room, a movie room, exercise rooms with equipment, free use of the laundry room machines, free transportation needs in the U.S., a free medical clinic for minor medical and dental needs, funds raised for their mission projects in their home countries and elsewhere including help to cover plane fares, etc. They also were allowed free use of the dorm in Myrtle Beach for overnight stays at the beach and for lengthy stays during the summer for vacation at no expense to them. In return, they agreed to take responsibilities of at least 20 hours a week of training with their classes. With their classes and any training to be done, so if they said they put in 40 hours this included 15 hours or more of classes, attendance at chapel services twice a week and participation in ministry like the choir or other areas. In return, most of them would receive $50 a week spending money in addition to all the above. No student was ever promised $100 a week even though there were those who did receive up to $200-300 a week, if they were on staff. The argument with the government is who is to say what a Christian College can do when training a student. If they had been athletes and their training and games and travel exceeded 20 hours a week would they be liable for breaking the 20 hour rule? The 20 hour rule is for those hired for a job. The college had understood this to apply to salaried positions and not to training. No one from Homeland Security ever came to the college and presented these concerns so we could show our records and program. I do not believe that a single public college in America would be raided and treated like a private Christian College.

There NEVER was any single case where a medical report found that a student had food poisoning. Dr. Miller, his family, the staff, and others in the community all ate at the cafeteria. The cafeteria maintained an A rating the entire time of operation and after the accusations in May of 2014 DHEC did an investigation and found no evidence of credibility to the accusations. Students were allowed to maintain personal food in personal kitchens in each dorm area. If anyone was sick from food it probably was from this. If the college had an episode of food poisoning there would have been several students at the emergency room at the same time. The fact that there were students at anytime eating who were from 20-30 different cultures probably affected the way some viewed what was offered. Even American students who go to college find out the food is not like mama cooked.

NO student was ever promised a job of $100 a week. The student who made that accusation had made it before and when asked for proof of his accusation the letter he presented said $1,000 a year, not $100 a week. However, sometimes a student was given more than $50 spending money if they were put on salary. If ever the college felt the need to help reimburse them for their plane fare or to assist them in a plane fare to return home we always did. Some students on staff got all the benefits including a car to drive and made over $200 a week along with everything else we did for them.

The college was never with a loss of accreditation. This was a lie of the media that could have been solved by a call to the headquarters of the association, instead of taking a picture of an old certificate and showing that to the public. Because of this lie the head of the Accreditation service had to come from Arkansas and go before a Grand Jury to testify that the college was fully accredited and even since that time the college had another visit and was again re-accredited.

Nearly 100 letters were written to Judge Harwell denying that the college was ever anything but a loving, giving, and caring institution. This includes present students who were greatly offended at the statements in the media. Many, however, out of fear of Homeland Security and a rumor that was circulated among the students of Homeland threats to those who sought to help the school, were concerned that they may be deported if they wrote a letter and told the truth because of the threats.

The students were never without the access to hot showers. At one period the college had renovation on the gas lines and while changing out the gas lines they did not have showers available in their room, but they did have access to showers that were heated by electricity both on and off campus.

They were never without power or water except during the ice storm and all of the City of Marion was without power. Students were given an offer to go to Myrtle Beach or come to a home in Marion until power was restored.

They were never served out of date food that was bad. Rumors started from the fact that much of the food was provided by a federal food bank and a lot of the food was provided frozen prior to the expiration date. Cathedral served all meals free to the students in the dorms, the day students, all staff and anyone who showed up at meal time. The federal food banks will freeze food prior to the expiration date, and then when you are ready to cook it there is no problem. But, some students from third world countries had never been in a walk in freezer and when they saw in the freezer that the dates were out of date they assumed that it was bad food, when in fact it had been frozen prior to the out of date and given to the college. DHEC always gave an A rating to the cafeteria, and did an investigation afterward the false accusations and said that there was no grounds for the accusation.

ALL students on FULL scholarship had a clear understanding that they would be working and training in the ministry. If they did not want to work and train they were free to leave. The college raised funds for plane fares for those who did mission work and the college would have gladly provided at any time the airfare for any International who wanted to go home. In fact, the basis of a lot of the accusations was that there were those that the college wanted to send home and in some cases had expelled them from the campus for drugs and alcohol abuse, or was in the process of asking them to leave, and they wanted to stay and enjoy all the benefits.

No work of the students benefited Dr. Miller. He had taken a vow of poverty in the 1970's and had no savings, retirement, etc. He lived week to week. All work was part of their training for ministry and for missions. A very few times students were asked to come set up tables outdoors for student events and cook outs for them but not for the Millers. Maybe 2-3 times over 3 years a student may have been asked if they wanted to earn some money in return for helping a few hours at some project at the home or if Dr. Miller had been in the hospital and needed help mowing the grass etc. As members of the church there were also times that men and women came to help the Millers. Any other help was by volunteer of students during times that I was sick or unable to lift etc.

IT IS EVIDENT that the media and especially the Sun News and WPDE gave the public their own storyline. At one time people were led to believe that Dr. Miller may be in prison for life, and WPDE on the day he pled to the new charges, told the public that "the charges that he pled not guilty to in May he has now pled guilty." Amazing that thousands of people could have been told such a lie that he had pled guilty to forced labor and abuse which gave truth to all these lies that had been served up to the media and the public. There has been no apology or an offer to redeem their lies. The lies were abundant in the Sun News including saying that students had called the classes a "sham" which was NEVER said. This accusation was picked up by others in the media and the Post Courier claimed that the Associated Press said that the prosecutor had said this. She never said this. Also, the Sun News constantly referred to a non-accredited Academy that the college had operated. This is a clear lie in that our academy had their certifications from the same accrediting group as the college for the years that the school operated which was about 12 years. Graduates of the school have gone to the College of Charleston and other colleges across the Southeast and there has never been a student turned down due to the college saying the school was unaccredited. IN fact, those students who at anytime transferred back to or went to a public school usually reported that they were ahead of the students where they were placed. Just another of the lies from the "Poison pen of Horry County". The Sun News reporter, David Wren, who has been an enemy of the college since it moved to Myrtle Beach, went back 30 years recounting accusations against Dr. Miller, regardless of it being true or false. Just a few weeks before the raid on the college, the Sun News and David Wren were found guilty by a jury of their peers in Horry county of lying and of Defamation of Character and ordered to pay the plaintiff over $600,000. Every news source that has repeated accusations about Dr. Miller and Cathedral is guilty of treating Christians with malice, if they did not also report that in the case of the Sun News, it was not accusations, but it was a jury of their peers who found them guilty of defamation of character. Mr. Wren was accused by the prosecution of having a "poison pen". This really shows the arrogance of the media when it comes to the common man. No respect for a jury of peers.

Even South Carolina public radio reported that Dr. Miller had pled to the accusation of Forced Labor and abuse. Did this come from the Sun News that encouraged media to contact them for information on the case, or from WPDE? Why would the Sun News encourage other media to contact them; because, the POISON PEN David Wren had his own agenda. After all, he had gone and tried to stop the college from getting their new campus by going to one of the representatives of the group selling the campus and due to his accusations Dr. Miller had to go through a background check which he passed and the sale went through. There is not the room here to tell of all his actions. Either way, Dr. Ben Carson was right; the MEDIA is the enemy of the American people unless you are part of the media or not a Christian. How much time and how vicious was the media concerning the trial of the Sun News and David Wren versus the attention and the accusations of 30 years that was presented over and over to the public concerning Reginald Miller and Cathedral Bible College? In Florence a church musician lost her job because of the media attack on Cathedral Bible College; the church was afraid that her association with the college would cause the media to come after them. In Myrtle Beach a counselor at a nursing home lost her job because as a teacher at the college the nursing home was afraid of the media coming after them because she worked there. What is wrong in a free country where a free media uses its power to cause such fear among the populace? There are some media organizations that will not stop until juries start awarding millions of dollars to those who have suffered from their viciousness. In conclusion, Dr. Miller and Cathedral Bible College greatly appreciates the work done on this case by his attorneys with the limited information they had and with his inability to be of sound mind at the time. Also with the limited and false information provided them it can also be said that Judge Harwell and Ms. Carrie Fisher appointed by the Federal Prosecutor in S.C. were at all times fair, based upon what they knew. At the time Dr. Miller was in no mental shape or physical shape to collect the evidence to prove his innocence. Also, because of being under a ¼ million dollar bond he would have sit for 1-2 years waiting for a trial. The college was scheduled in fall of 2014 to begin the process of a higher level of accreditation that would put the college on the same level as other Christian Colleges such as Erskine, Morris, Allen University, Benedict, Newberry and others. This has been destroyed after 40 years of work towards the goal. The college continues with American students only in Myrtle Beach on a very small scale. Dr. Miller plans to remain supportive and do what he can for the college, but he has stated that he will be giving most of his attention to foreign missions. He has always had a desire to spend time on the mission field in third world countries. The college has had extensive mission activity in many countries and his graduates are begging him to come help them. It is time to bring to Justice to the rogue agent and any others in the Justice Department responsible for all of this.

Several political servants are being asked to request an investigation of the agent in charge and any others who assisted him in these actions for the potential charges of Abuse of Power and Obstruction of Justice.

Statement Presented by Cathedral Bible College