First Judicial District Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer accepted a plea agreement this morning from Dustin Bingham, 37, of Los Alamos in a case involving five charges of criminal sexual contact with minors.

Judge Marlowe Sommer ordered Bingham transported to the Mexico Corrections Department Diagnostic Center in Los Lunas prior to sentencing.

A criminal complaint filed by Assistant District Attorney Michael Nunez Aug. 2 listed the charges as:

Count 1: Criminal sexual contact of a minor in the second degree (child under 13) unclothed;

Count 2: Criminal sexual contact of a minor in the third degree (child under 13) clothed;

Count 3: Criminal sexual contact of a minor in the fourth degree;

Count 4: Child solicitation by electronic communication device; and

Count 5: Sexual exploitation of children (possession).

Under the terms of the plea agreement, for Count 1 Bingham will be sentenced to the mandatory incarceration period of three years as required by state statutes. He will face an additional 12 years of exposure for a total of 15 years of exposure. On Count 2, he will have an exposure of six years at sentencing, and on Counts 3, 4 and 5 each has an exposure of 18 months at sentencing.

Counts 1 and 2 will be deemed serious violent offenses to be served at 85 percent and as authorized by state law, the State will argue for Counts 3 and 4 to be determined to be serious violent offenses and served also at 85 percent. Bingham will be required to register as a sex offender for life.

No agreement has been made as to whether sentencing for Counts 1 through 5 will run concurrently or consecutively. Any exposure not imposed at initial sentencing will be suspended in which case Bingham will be placed on sex offender supervised probation through the Adult Probation and Parole Department for a period of five to 20 years.

The agreement states that Bingham will ask for unsupervised contact with his son and have no contact with other minor children except with written permission of a probation officer. He will have no contact with one of the victims and the Court will decide at sentencing if he is allowed to have contact with the other two victims. The State will oppose contact with those two victims.

The maximum penalty for Count 1 is three years of incarceration and up to a $5,000 fine; Count 2 carries up to six years and up to $5,000; Counts 3, 4 and 5 carry up to 18 months and up to a $5,000 fine.

Not included in the District Court charges were several additional Magistrate Court charges including a second count of sexual contact of a minor in the second degree, a second count of sexual contact of a minor in the third degree and four counts of sexual contact of a minor in the fourth degree.

Bingham was arraigned Aug. 28 before Judge T. Glenn Ellington on the five charges and announced his intention to peremptorily challenge him from hearing the case. At that hearing, Bingham’s attorney Stephen D. Aarons notified the Court that Bingham would not be pleading guilty to the charges. Although Bingham signed a plea agreement, Judge Ellington could not sign it and the County Clerk’s Office would not accept it without a judge’s signature, so details of the plea have not been available until today.

Bingham has been incarcerated at the Rio Arriba Detention Center for due to safety concerns since May 12 when Judge Ellington found that he posed a danger to the community and particularly to others involved in the case and that there were no conditions of release that would guarantee their safety.

Los Alamos Police Department originally arrested Bingham May 3 and charged him with eight counts of criminal sexual contact with a minor. Then May 30, LAPD charged him with two counts of sexual exploitation of children and one count of child solicitation by electronic communication device resulting from searches of three cell phones found on him during his initial arrest.

Bingham worked for LAPD as a detention officer from September 2012 to April 2015 when he joined Santa Fe Sheriff’s Office as a deputy sheriff. He resigned from that position in February.