SALT LAKE CITY — The commissioner of the Utah Department of Public Safety has apologized to the family of a woman who claims she was raped as a teenager by a Highway Patrol trooper in 1968.
The family of Valarie Clark Miller filed a notice of claim, which is often a prelude to a lawsuit against the state, alleging that she was repeatedly sexually assaulted by two men — one of them a trooper — in the Cache County town of Clarkston beginning when she was 13.
The family alleged that her claims were ignored when she reported the rapes to DPS in 1990.
"Valarie’s name was vilified for many, many years," her husband, John Miller, told FOX 13 News on Tuesday.
Valarie accused Officer Robert Dahle and Gary Thompson of assaulting her and Lloyd Clark of helping them in the attacks. When she reported it, the Utah Department of Public Safety claimed it had conducted an investigation and found it was not substantiated.
Valarie died in 2017.
The Miller family decided to hire their own investigators in 2020 and review what happened. They found that polygraph exams that DPS claimed to have conducted never happened, the agency never interviewed her therapist as they had claimed and then-DPS Commissioner Doug Bordrero denied involvement in the investigation, even though evidence suggested he was notified.
When investigators for the Miller family questioned Dahle in April 2021, he acknowledged being the subject of an investigation and that Commissioner Bordrero knew about it. He insisted he passed a polygraph exam.
Dahle and Thomson are both dead now. Clark, the Miller family's attorneys said, is serving a prison sentence in Colorado for attempted sexual exploitation of a child via the internet.
When the notice of claim was filed, DPS and the Utah Attorney General's Office launched a review of the incident.
"Because of the seriousness of the matter, I directed my office, the Utah Department of Public Safety, in cooperation with the Utah Attorney General’s Office, to undertake a thorough investigation into your allegations. My Department has interviewed scores of witnesses over several months. Based on that thorough investigation, I have concluded that the factual allegations you raise in your Notice of Claim and subsequent communications about DPS actions in 1990 rest on a foundation of extensive and disturbing evidence," DPS Commissioner Jess Anderson wrote in the letter to the Miller family made public by the agency on Tuesday.
"While it, unfortunately, appears that there is no legal recourse that I can take to right the wrong that was done to Mr. and Mrs. Miller more than three decades ago, the least I can do is to express my deep regret to John R. Miller and family members of Valarie Clark Miller (now deceased) for the emotional distress suffered by Mrs. Miller, Mr. Miller, and the family as a result of the actions described in your Notice of Claim."
For John Miller, it was vindication. He praised Commissioner Anderson for "having the courage to stand up and say mistakes were made." Miller said his family will not pursue any lawsuit against the state. They were only interested in clearing Valarie's name.
"Valarie was a courageous woman. To finally get to the truth and the bottom of this is gratifying and provides a measure of healing and closure for the entire family and extended family," Miller said.
Debra Clark Cooper said she believes her sister can finally rest in peace.
"It’s so overwhelming. It’s just taken so many years and there’s been a lot of heartache and pain," she told FOX 13 News. "We’ve known it was the truth and we knew that Valarie was telling the truth."
While the agency never explicitly says "I'm sorry" nor acknowledges any kind of cover up, Miller family attorney Richard Lambert said it was an acknowledgment.
"They didn’t use the word cover up or obstruction of justice, but if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck," he told reporters on Tuesday.
In a statement, the Department of Public Safety said Commissioner Anderson ordered a review even though there was never a criminal complaint filed nor a criminal investigation initiated by any law enforcement agency.
"While there is no legal recourse that can be taken to address what happened decades ago, we hope Commissioner Anderson’s letter to the Miller family can help them find closure in our efforts to address their pain and frustrations," it said. "The Department’s internal investigation policies are very different today compared to 1990. Yet, to further strengthen department policy, we will use a third-party organization to undertake a thorough review of our current policies and procedures and make appropriate recommendations for strengthening our processes."
Read the letter here:
