Councilman who admitted prostitution scheme, wife both kill themseves, cops say

WESTWOOD — A former councilman who pleaded guilty to federal charges in February and his wife both appear to have committed suicide, authorities say.

Late Thursday night, the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office confirmed both Robert W. Miller, 67, and wife Aecha "Gina" Miller, 57, were found dead in their home at 430 Kinderkamack Road.

The deaths were not deemed suspicious at the time and appeared to be suicides, but final confirmation would come from a medical examiner, the prosecutor's office said.

Robert Miller admitted in February he sold fake massage therapy training certificates to prostitutes at more than two dozen massage parlors. He entered a plea to using facilities in interstate commerce to promote prostitution.

"Miller held himself out as a businessman who, for a fee of $500 to $2,500, could provide a massage therapy training certificate to anyone who wished to obtain a massage license with the State of New Jersey without receiving the required training," the Department of Justice said in a News release at the time.

The massage parlors were located in Union, Passaic, Hudson and Middlesex counties.

The former councilman, who resigned in 2015 after seven years, was facing up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Miller was also previously a councilman in Ridgewood, for two years in the 1990s.

The deaths come the same week as an apparent murder-suicide at a home in Caldstadt. There, police say Scott Sabia shot and killed wife Michele before barricading himself in his home, and eventually turning his gun on himself.

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