Police say they arrested Dennis Mills Jr., 43, on April 9 and indicted him on a number of charges, including rape of a child and statutory rape by an authority figure.
Mills was arrested without incident following a month-long investigation by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations and Knox County Sheriff's Office.
He was originally being held in the Knox County Detention Facility, but Sheriff Jimmy "J.J." Jones decided to move Mills to the Blount County Jail to avoid any appearance of favoritism. He was being held there on a $250,000 bond.
According to Knox County court records, the girl approached her mother just before midnight on March 3, crying. She told her mother Mills had been forcing her to have sex with him for over a year.
According to court records she also told her mother the defendant told her she would be taken away from her mother if she told and no one would believe her.
TBI was then contacted and the investigation began.
According to his personnel file, Mills was hired by the Knox County Sheriff's Office as a corrections officer in 1994.
He became a certified law enforcement officer in 1996. He was promoted to a patrol lieutenant in 2000.
All reviews were positive until the investigation began on March 4.
The Knox County Sheriff's Office assisted in the investigation and placed him on administrative leave without pay at that point.
KCSO says they terminated Mills Tuesday.
