DEPUTY ORDERED TO STAND TRIAL ON MOLESTING CHARGE.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

LOS ANGELES - A Lancaster sheriff's patrol deputy has been ordered to stand trial on charges he molested a 12-year-old girl and made terrorist threats against a former girlfriend, officials said Tuesday.

Douglas Mills, 33, was bound over for trial on one count of committing a lewd act with a child under 14. He also is accused of making terrorist threats against a former girlfriend whom authorities claim he threatened to shoot on a Lancaster street in November 1998.

During Mills' preliminary hearing Monday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Abraham Kahn dismissed a second count of committing a lewd act count with a child.

``The judge found there wasn't enough evidence to support Count 2 because the alleged victim herself was unable to recall any touching that would amount to lewd contact,'' said Vicki Podbereski, Mills' attorney.

Podbereski said the girl was in Mills' patrol car July 3, along with her mother and a sheriff's volunteer.

``There was an independent witness who was sitting within a foot of Mills and the alleged victim, and she testified she saw his hand in sight the entire time,'' Podbereski said. ``The mother made the allegation that Deputy Mills' right hand was underneath her daughter's shirt. The daughter has no recollection of that happening.''

In the lewd act charge on which Mills was ordered to stand trial, Mills is accused of touching the girl's thigh with his hand and holding her hand while she was in his patrol car July 1, Podbereski said.

Mills, who is free after posting $50,000 bond, has pleaded not guilty to the charges. A deputy since 1991 and based at the Lancaster station, Mills was relieved of duty without pay, investigators said.

Mills also is charged with making terrorist threats against a former girlfriend in November 1998. Authorities said Mills threatened to shoot the woman on a Lancaster street.

Mills' case is the third since October involving an Antelope Valley sheriff's deputy accused of improper conduct with minors.

Steven Brown, a 41-year-old Palmdale sheriff's deputy, pleaded guilty in February in Los Angeles federal court to trying to solicit sex via the Internet from a person he thought was a 13-year-old girl. He faces up to 18 months in prison when he is sentenced later this month.

Kevin Carney, a former sheriff's sex crimes investigator and former Palmdale city councilman, has pleaded not guilty to charges that he molested four girls.