An Oak Harbor man pleaded guilty to raping three young girls but continues to deny that he’s responsible, according to court documents.

As part of a plea bargain, Michael W. Miller, 55, pleaded guilty in Island County Superior Court to three counts of child rape in the first degree.

The judge handed him an indeterminate sentence of 18 years to life in prison at a sentencing hearing Feb. 17. He has to serve a minimum of 18 years and then a review board will decide if he should be released.

A community corrections officer interviewed Miller for a pre-sentence investigation. Miller told the officer he didn’t commit the crimes and blamed his wife for raping the children. He also claimed his attorney lied to him, according to the pre-sentence investigation.

Miller raped, sodomized and molested three girls as young as 8 years old over several years.

One of the girls told Miller’s wife about the abuse months before he was arrested, but the woman told the girl to keep it a secret, saying that her parents would be mad at her “for letting him do that to her,” the police report states.

The police report describes an incident in which Miller molested two young girls during a sleepover at his home. One of the girls cried as he was molesting her; the other girl held her friend’s hand “because she didn’t know what to do,” Powers-Rang wrote.

The day after Miller was arrested, the mother of a 7-year-old girl contacted police and said the girl disclosed being raped by Miller, a detective wrote in the police report.

Miller suffers from an epilepsy disorder and was diagnosed with a mood disorder and bipolar disorder, according to the pre-sentence investigation report. A mental-health expert examined Miller and found that he was not competent to stand trial, but his competency was restored through treatment at Western State Hospital.

Miller will have to register as a sex offender and be on community supervision for life if he’s released.