In a ruling last summer, a Commonwealth Court panel noted that Mark R. Miller isn't a licensed private detective, his nonprofit group doesn't employ any detectives and he's never worked in law enforcement.
But Miller insists that the organization he founded, the Unity-based American Association for Lost Children, performs a valuable public service that complements law enforcement and missing children agencies.
Miller, 50, helps custodial parents recover their children after they've illegally been taken over state lines — or into another country.
And he does it for no charge.
A 1981 graduate of St. Vincent College, Miller had a small mobile-home sales business and a stockbroker license in Texas when he became intrigued by a flier for a missing child. Miller was surprised to learn the organization behind it provided information, but didn't attempt to retrieve the children.
That inspired him to start his Christian-based charity. Initially, he intended to hire investigators, but the cost was prohibitive.
So Miller decided to find the children himself.
"At that point, I thought, 'Somebody needs to look for them,' " said Miller, who moved back to Pennsylvania in 2003 and restarted the nonprofit here in 2006.
"As I talked to the parents, they just really pulled on my heart strings, and I really felt compelled to help."
Miller says he's helped to recover more than 160 kids, organizing fundraisers to generate about $100,000 annually to cover expenses. He relies almost entirely on donations.
He's based out of a two-story home on Fred Rogers Drive with two full-time employees, a director of the charity and a fundraiser.
The group's financial situation has led to another appeal, seeking exemption from property taxes in Westmoreland County, with a hearing set for Tuesday before the board of assessment appeals.
"It's going to get turned around because it's a no-brainer," Miller said.
This summer, Commonwealth Court upheld a county ruling that the association should pay property taxes because it did not establish it "relieved the government of some of its burden."
The decision came down, in spite of affidavits from District Attorney John Peck and Sheriff Chris Scherer stating that an organization like his does reduce the government's burden.
Law enforcement doesn't always have the resources to focus on missing children cases, Miller contends. He works with authorities in many cases so an arrest happens at the same time the child is reunited with the custodial parent.
Stories of Miller's recoveries have appeared on television shows such as "Good Morning America" and in publications like "Reader's Digest" and "Biography Magazine."
In 2006, Miller generated worldwide interest in his charity with an Internet Web site, townhousewithgroom.com, a short-lived attempt to sell a Hempfield townhouse — and marry the female buyer. The townhouse eventually sold, but Miller said he didn't find the right chemistry to form a lasting bond.
The August issue of "All You," a women's magazine, featured two women whom Miller helped to reunite with their children after their fathers illegally took them. Lately, a camera crew from Cornerstone TeleVision, a Christian media ministry, has been filming his work, including the July rescue of a 3 1/2-year-old Kentucky boy who was taken to Mexico.
One of the moms profiled in the magazine, Amber Ibarra, said she felt compelled to assist him with the July rescue because the circumstances were similar to her 2008 journey to Mexico to bring back her 4-year-old son after a 14-month abduction.
Ibarra comforted the boy's mother. She has spoken on the phone to a handful of parents whose children are missing.
"When he got my baby back, I was a volunteer for life," the Dickson, Tenn., woman said.
Ibarra said local police wouldn't help her because she was separated, but still married to her husband. The Department of State arranged a court date in Mexico, but if her husband failed to appear, it would be postponed for another year, she said.
"(Miller has) pretty much dedicated himself to children that he doesn't even know," Ibarra said.
While Miller's group has won praise from custodial parents, he's been criticized by the attorney of a Georgia woman who was arrested last year and charged with interference with the custody of a child and absconding justice.
Charges against Rosa Jimenez were later dropped, and she's tried to seek custody of her 7-year-old son in Delaware County. Police in Macon, Ga., credited Miller with assisting the reunion, but Jimenez's Pennsylvania attorney, Kevin Wray, contends that Shawn Kea gave a Delaware County judge misinformation to get a custody order.
Wray called Miller's organization "disreputable."
"They're little more than strong arms for whatever (ticked)-off party hires them," Wray said.
Miller said he doesn't act without a certified court order. The children often are listed in police databases for missing children and their information is distributed by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, he said.
The chairman of Miller's organization, Vernon Thompson, a Texas family law attorney, said it "wasn't a hard sell" 20 years ago to support Miller's mission.
"You have to have great compassion and love for family and children to do what Mark does, and any time a person is caught, they're going to scream to try to get the finger away from them," he said.
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