Olympic gymnast Shannon Miller knows all about the public eye, but her ex-husband has disappeared from sight after abruptly closing his eye surgery center in Washington state, The Associated Press reported.
Ex-hubby Christopher B. Phillips is being investigated after appointments were canceled without patients being notified and he closed the Lomas Eye Care Center in Renton, Wash., on Feb. 29, according to sources in The Seattle Times. Phillips is reportedly facing misdemeanor charges unrelated to the center.
The Times, citing a police investigation, reported Phillips is scheduled for a municipal court appearance on charges of disturbing the peace and making false statements to law enforcement officials. Investigators reportedly found some intoxicated teens drinking at his home Dec. 10. Phillips, asleep in a bedroom upstairs, claimed no knowledge of the young whippersnappers or their reasons for allegedly imbibing in his abode.
"Phillips became extremely agitated with me, telling me that he was a lawyer and that I had no right to accuse him of a crime," wrote an officer, according to the Times. "Phillips was irate and yelled at me to get out of his house."
Phillips once resided with Edmond's most famous gymnast in Oklahoma City, but the couple reportedly split in 2006, according to AP. Miller characterized accusations surrounding the bitter breakup as innuendo and lies.
"I've been put through the wringer over this," Phillips said at the time. "It's been a very bitter and terrible divorce. "¦ She has really, really hurt me." Phillips said he would like to return to Oklahoma at some point.
Miller responded by referencing the price of petroleum.
"The worst thing I ever did to my ex-husband was to put unleaded gas in his car and not premium. With gas prices these days, do you blame me?" Miller wrote to The Oklahoman. "We all have choices to make in life. I have chosen to be happy by leaving this painful experience in the past. I hope Chris is able to move on as well."
Miller endured some other interesting publicity prior to her marriage, when she attended a 1998 trial of Joseph Vogt, a man accused of stalking her in Norman. The Oke reported that then-boyfriend Chris Phillips testified that Vogt intentionally rear-ended (!) him on Highway 9.
Vogt has written extensively about the incident on the Web site, where he blames Miller's jealous then-flame for starting the incident "¦ along with the dadgum press.
"The media went insane, I got slammed left and right," Vogt wrote. "They made me to be an obsessed psycho despite powerful evidence to the contrary."
