FREDERIC SERRE
The 1510 West
Describing the ongoing case of disgraced billionaire Robert Miller, founder of Pointe Claire-based Future Electronics, who faces multiple sexual assault charges as “slow justice,” retired West Island cop John Westlake says he hopes Miller “shows up” when his case returns to court Feb. 25 despite claims by the defence that Miller’s health is severely deteriorating.
The Miller saga is especially important to Lachine-born Westlake because his undercover work as a private investigator is what led to Miller, 81, being charged with sexually assaulting a total of 11 young women in the 1990s and early 2000s. Westlake, who worked with the Montreal police department’s major crimes and narcotics units, and also patrolled in the West Island during the 1980s and ’90s, teamed up with the CBC’s The Fifth Estate and Radio-Canada’s Enquête, which exposed the alleged crimes in early 2023. The reports led to Miller’s resignation from Future Electronics and a new police investigation launched.
In an interview with The 1510 West, Westlake said he is frustrated with how slowly the case is moving through the criminal justice system as he waits for the evidence – much of which he uncovered – is brought before a judge. Although retired, Westlake said his impatience comes from the fact that “police stills flows in my blood.”
Lawyers for Miller and his associate, Teresita Fuentes, who also lives with him, met with the Crown before a Quebec Court Judge at the Palais de Justice last month, at which time the case was scheduled to return to court in February. Fuentes is charged with being an accomplice to Miller.
Charged in early 2024 with 21 counts of sexual assault involving 10 victims, Miller faced three new charges in early December, alleging that he sexually assaulted a girl under the age of 14 between February 1995 and February 1996. He is also charged with continuing to assault the girl after she turned 14 until 2000. Police said some of the victims were underage in incidents that were alleged to have happened between 1994 and 2016.
Miller, who sold the company based on Hymus Boulevard in Pointe Claire in 2023, is reportedly in poor health due to advanced Parkinson’s disease, and his defence team has attempted to delay proceedings, saying Miller is innocent of all charges.
Meanwhile, Miller is also the subject of several civil lawsuits, including a class action that has not yet been authorized but has about 50 participants, and three individual complaints that total nearly $30 million in requested damages.