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Roger Miller is the director of recreation and golf services in Coronado, California, who is being investigated by the city after he and his wife were accused of making racist and anti-Asian statements in a viral video. His wife, Sandie Miller, was fired from her job at a private Christian school in Temecula after an investigation into the same video.
The incident involving an Asian couple occurred at the Fashion Island Mall in Newport Beach, California, according to SanDiegoVille. The initial racist comments that led the anonymous couple to start recording Roger Miller and his wife, Sandie Miller, during the January 29, 2022, incident were not caught on video.
The person who recorded the video told SanDiegoVille, “My girlfriend and I were just shopping around Fashion Island in Newport when a couple walks by us, makes eye contact with looks us, and say ‘oooh COVID is gonna get you,’ ‘those Chinese spreading COVID,’ and continuously talks between them but purposely loud enough for us to hear the racial slurs and comments.” He added, “Then they loudly blurt out racial commentaries as about another Asian couple and baby walk by.” He told the news website, “When we confronted them, they saw no fault in their actions and instead proudly and continuously blurt out racial commentaries attacking us.”
Roger Miller, 55, of Temecula, California, was identified by popular social media user ThatDaneshGuy, known for investigating and identifying people accused of racism or other inappropriate behavior in viral videos, who reposted the video to his hundreds of thousands of followers on TikTok and Twitter. The city of Coronado confirmed in a statement that the incident was being investigated.
“The City became aware of a recording of a City employee and alleged comments made. The City took immediate action to look into this report. As this is a personnel matter, I cannot discuss specifics at this point. This is a serious matter and I am taking appropriate action,” city manager Tina Friend said in a statement posted on January 30. “The City of Coronado is a welcoming place for all.”
Roger Miller and his wife, 56-year-old Sandra Miller, could not be reached for comment by Heavy and have not issued a statement on the video. The couple who originally posted the video to TikTok could also not be reached for comment by Heavy. Sandie Miller worked at Linfield Christian School, according to her Facebook page.
Linfield Christian said in a statement posted to Facebook, “Linfield Christian School has become aware of a video recording that features comments made by one of our employees. As this is a personnel issue, we can not discuss specifics at this time, but we recognize it is a serious matter, and we are taking immediate action to look into it. Please know that the comments expressed in this video do not represent the viewpoints of Linfield Christian School. Our school is enriched by the addition of students from around the world, and we seek to model the heart and love of Christ as we build a community that is reflective of our Mission.” The statement was posted as a comment to a recent Facebook post about the school’s Chinese New Year celebration.
Linfield posted an updated statement on February 1, 2022, revealing that Miller was no longer working at the kindergarten through 12th grade school. “After speaking with Ms. Miller regarding the incident, Linfield has terminated her employment immediately. The statements made by Ms. Miller do not reflect the beliefs of Linfield, are inconsistent with Linfield’s mission statement and fail to meet the behavior Linfield expects employees to model for its students,” the statement said.
The Video Shows Roger Miller & Sandie Miller Giving the Middle Finger to the Couple as They Drive Off After Sandie Miller Said ‘Go Back to China’
The viral video starts with Roger Miller and his wife, Sandie Miller, walking away from an Asian couple in a parking garage at the Fashion Island Mall. The couple is recording the Millers as they walk to their car. In the caption of the video posted to Tiktok by @warmsocks01, the poster wrote, “This racist couple started calling us racial slurs out of nowhere and blamed Asians for starting COVID. They continued to say racist comments loudly for us to hear, so we confronted them.”
In the video, the woman, identified as Sandie Miller, can be heard saying, “I love that we are not their country right? I love that we are not communism. I love that very much.” She and her husband are walking away from the couple toward their car with their backs to the camera.
One of the people filming asks them, “Are you saying those words towards us?” And her boyfriend can be heard saying to the couple, “We’re not even Chinese by the way.” The man, identified as Roger Miller, then says, “Yeah, maybe could be,” and his wife yells, “America is a free country!” as she gets into their car. She then yells, “Go back to China!” As the couple, identified as the Millers, drive off, they both stick up their middle finger toward the couple filming them, the video shows.
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Roger Miller Was Named Recreation & Golf Services Director in 2015 & He Earned More Than $200,000 in That Role in 2020, Coronado City Records Show
Roger Miller was named as the city of Coronado’s Recreation and Golf Services director in 2015 and he has worked for the city of Coronado since 2009, according to his LinkedIn profile. He is a member of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America. He has also previously worked as the treasurer for the Temecula Valley Little League and was the baseball manager at Linfield Christian Middle School, according to his LinkedIn profile. Miller earned more than $200,000 in his city job in 2020, according to payroll records from Transparent California.
Roger Miller was the director of the San Diego Golf Course Superintendents Association from 2013 to 2016, he wrote on LinkedIn. He attended Riverside Community College from 1985 to 1987 and California State Polytechnic University from 1987 to 1991, graduating with a bachelor of science degree in ornamental horticulture, according to his LinkedIn profile. He was a member of the Cal Poly Turf Club while there, he wrote on LinkedIn.
According to a 2015 article in the Coronado Eagle & Journal, Roger Miller was born in Los Angeles and graduated from Elsinore High School. The article says, “Armed with a freshly minted college degree Miller became the assistant superintendent and later superintendent at Pelican Hill Golf Course in Newport Beach. Later Miller became the golf course superintendent and was promoted to business manager at the North Golf Course in Sun City, Ca, which was one of the first Del Webb Communities. After the downturn in the economy in 2008, Miller worked in landscaping briefly before joining the Coronado Municipal Golf Course in June 2009 as the director of golf services.”
The article says that Roger Miller and his wife have two grown children and live in Temecula. According to Sandie Miller’s Facebook page, she also graduated from Elsinore High School after being born in Little Silver, New Jersey. She said on Facebook she works at Linfield Christian School. Details about her job at the school were not immediately available.
Roger Miller Has Been the Subject of Controversy & Was Named in a Lawsuit Against the City of Coronado Alleging Workplace Harassment, Discrimination & Retaliation
In March 2018, Roger Miller was the subject of controversy chronicled in a San Diego Reader article titled, “Someone’s Teed Off in Coronado.” Former Coronado municipal golf course employee Mike Horvath told the news site, “Roger Miller has run roughshod, and there’s no oversight.”
The article added, “Mike Horvath, who worked 25 years at Coronado Muni from the age of 12 until last December, says Miller has done pretty much what he pleases, City of Coronado bylaws be damned. Moreover, Horvath alleges that Miller, as director of golf services, engaged in a campaign of retaliation against anyone who dared question the operation of his 18-hole fiefdom.”
The San Diego Reader wrote, “Horvath maintains that Miller began a campaign of harassment aimed at him. ‘He defamed me by accusing me of ‘battery’ on a female worker in the pro shop and by claiming that I used an anti-gay slur. And one time, he even allowed Bayside management to call the cops on me; he did some crazy shit.'”
Roger Miller was also among Coronado city employees named in a wrongful termination and harassment lawsuit by former city employee Sean Ryan. Details of the lawsuit can be seen here. It was filed in 2018 in San Diego County court.
