Miller to spend 41 months in federal prison

TRYON — Former Tryon Commissioner Roy Miller was sentenced in federal court Thursday and will spend 41 months, or almost three and a half years, in prison.

Miller appeared in federal court in Asheville Thursday morning and received the sentence. Miller has been in federal custody since July, after he violated his bond by testing positive for cocaine in March, then being arrested for larceny in Columbus in June.

Miller will spend 41 months in federal prison, and will be on supervised probation for the two years following.

“[Miller] got 41 months of prison and two years of supervised release,” said Lia Bantavani, with the North Carolina Department of Justice, on Friday. “He had already made complete restitution repayment.”

Miller was charged federally in April 2017 with conspiracy to commit federal program fraud, federal program fraud, extortion under color of official right and witness tampering.

Miller pleaded guilty to the charges on April 20 this year.

The charges stemmed from former Tryon Fire Chief and Town Manager Joey Davis using town credit cards to pay Miller’s personal bills.

The indictment in the case stated that Miller’s personal expenses were paid with town credit cards between April 1 and Aug. 9, 2016, and totaled $2,046. The payments for Miller with town funding included to Duke Energy, Nationwide Insurance and Charter Communications on several occasions.

Miller was a Tryon commissioner for approximately 13 years, and had served as mayor pro tem. He was the highest vote-getter in some of the elections.

Miller resigned his position as commissioner on June 1, 2017, following his arrest.

Davis was also charged in April 2017, with conspiracy to commit federal program fraud. His trial is set for Nov. 7 in Asheville.

All federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole or early release, so Miller will serve his full 41-month sentence.