as he faced the first stage of extradition proceedings to the United States.

Dr. George Miller is reported to have fled the US for Jamaica before serving out his sentence for sexual charges relating to a 15-year-old girl in Florida.

He pleaded no contest to them.

Dr. Miller has been practising at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital for the past two and a half years.

According to the Crown, he is likely to face criminal charges for local offences but was released on $10,000 bail and two like sureties after appearing before Senior Magistrate Will Francis in a specially convened court session late yesterday afternoon.

Appearing as character witnesses and prepared to put up sureties for Dr.

Miller were Dr. Peter Perinchief, Dr. June Hill, and Dr. Keith MacKenzie.

Both Dr. Hill and Dr. Perinchief, whose custody Dr. Miller was released in, signed for $10,000 each.

The US Consulate had written to the Governor asking that a provisional warrant of arrest be taken out on Dr. Miller. He was formally arrested in open court as character witnesses and his wife sat in the gallery yesterday.

US Consul General Larry Owen last night confirmed the incident and explained that an order to extradite was expected to follow.

"The warrant of arrest is at the initial stage of extradition proceedings,'' he explained, "subsequently we will need to deliver a positive ID, take finger prints, and so on.'' "These offences in the United States are considered very, very serious,'' Mr.

Owen noted. "The maximum, and I'm not saying he will get the maximum, but the maximum is 30 years on each count.'' Believed to be a 29-year-old Jamaican national, Dr. Miller's Florida convictions related to sexually assaulting the woman he is now married to.

According to his lawyer Delroy Duncan, who describes the case as a Romeo and Juliet story, Dr. Miller did not contest the charges laid against him and was sentenced to two years' community service and six years' probation.

Mr. Duncan revealed that Dr. Miller left Florida after serving out only one month of his sentence, on the advice of his American lawyer. The court heard that the lawyer made the suggestion because of the harassment Dr. Miller was getting from his wife's mother.

Doctor could be extradited to US Dr. Miller is reported to have gone to Jamaica and the 15-year-old girl he was charged with assaulting, followed him. Marriage certificates were produced in court that proved the couple tied the knot in Trinidad when she was 15 years old, in Scotland when she was 16 years old, and in August of this year in Las Vegas when she was 18.

Crown counsel Patrick Dougherty objected to bail.

After hours of legal argument the Senior Magistrate handed down his decision after 6 p.m. He released Dr. Miller on $10,000 bail and two like sureties, into the custody of Dr. Perinchief. All travel documents were seized and an order for reporting at Hamilton Police Station three times a week was made.

According to Mr. Dougherty, Police intend to charge Dr. Miller very soon, possibly today, with local offences.