Ex-Football Assistant Charged With Having Players Steal Painkillers For Him

CEDAR CITY — A former assistant high school football coach accused of using players from his team to obtain prescription painkillers was charged Thursday with eight felonies and eight misdemeanors.

Carter Miller, 33, was charged Thursday in Iron County’s 5th District Court with four counts of arranging to distribute a controlled substance, a first-degree felony; four counts of possession of a controlled substance, a second-degree felony; four counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a class B misdemeanor; and four counts of theft by receiving stolen property, also a class B misdemeanor.

On Feb. 10, prosecutors say Miller, an assistant coach at Canyon View High School, asked a 16-year-old player on his team to speak to him in private.

“Miller asked the student if his parents had any pain medication,” the charges state.

The student said he thought so, and Miller drove the boy to his parents’ house. The student retrieved five Oxycontin pills from his mother’s prescription and gave them to Miller, according to the charges..

Later that night, Miller texted the boy and asked if he could get more pills. The next day, the student brought 20 to 25 Lortabs to school and gave them to Miller, according to prosecutors.

Between the high school’s Christmas break and present, Miller twice texted another 16-year-old boy, also on the football team, and asked him to get pain pills from their medicine cabinets and deliver them to a convenience store he was working at, the charges state.

Both students told investigators they believed Miller was their friend and that they could trust him. Neither student said they were promised anything in return for the pills.

Miller was scheduled to make an initial appearance in court on March 1.

He had been at the Canyon View High about 2 1/2 years and taught special education, as well as being an assistant coach. He was placed on leave Monday when the allegations came to light and fired on Wednesday.