A Southern California sheriff’s deputy is accused of leading a double life as part of an outlaw motorcycle gang after police discovered a cache of firearms at his home. This included a shotgun stolen from the police station.
Deputy Christopher Bingham, 45, was arrested on March 23 after he was caught riding a motorcycle with two members of a “local outlaw motorcycle gang,” according to reports. San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.
Bingham, an 18-year veteran of the Department of Sheriff’s Office, was arrested on suspicion of possessing an unloaded, unregistered firearm and was taken into custody at Smith Correctional Facility, where he was later released.
The police department has been tracking Bingham since January 2024, and authorities began investigating Bingham after they received information that he was interacting with gang members in a car. did.
After his arrest in March, agents with the Gang/Narcotics Division executed a search warrant on his Twentynine Palms, Calif., home.
Police said they found a cache of “approximately 160 firearms,” including fully automatic assault rifles fitted with grenade launchers.
They also allegedly found “destructive devices,” a silencer, gang paraphernalia, and a “stolen San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department shotgun” during the search.
The 18-year veteran of the Sheriff’s Department was arrested at his home Thursday around 1 p.m. and booked into the West Valley Detention Center.
“This deputy’s actions are alarming and inexcusable. He not only tarnishes his badge, but undermines the integrity and credibility of our entire department,” said San Bernardino Sheriff Shannon Dicas. said in a statement.
“Criminal conduct will not be tolerated and we have placed him on immediate mandatory leave. The investigation was forwarded to the District Attorney’s Office and charges were filed.”
The San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office filed several felony charges against Bingham.
Bingham is charged with possession of a machine gun, possession of a short-barreled rifle, grand theft of a firearm, possession of a stolen firearm, possession of a destructive device, possession of a silencer, and participation in a criminal street gang.
According to the state of California, these charges will be enhanced for being gang-related. Criminal Law 186.22 PC.
His bail was set at $500,000 after his armory was discovered.
The department did not say which motorcycle gang Bingham was riding with, but District Attorney Jason Anderson reported that he believed Bingham was associated with the Mongols. San Bernardino Sun.
“There’s no doubt that Mongolians are involved in this,” Anderson said.
According to public records obtained by police, Bingham ran a gun store in Twentynine Palms on the side while working for the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department. LA Times.
Ousley Tactical store will be closed from June 2021.
The store was “unable to maintain inventory of any kind” and was “hemorrhaging” Bingham’s “personal finances,” he wrote in the store’s report. Facebook page After the closure was announced.
Bingham also faced a murder trial in 2019 after former Marine Rafael Aikens was arrested on suspicion of killing his estranged ex-girlfriend, Christy McKissic, and her mother in their Twentynine Palms home in 2017. I got caught up in it.
Bingham testified during the trial that he had sold Aikens a .45-caliber handgun weeks before the gruesome murders and that he had arrived at the crime scene the night of the murders. desert sun.
Mr. Aikens was sentenced to life in prison for that crime, but prosecutors did not say whether the gun Mr. Bingham sold him was the one used in the killing.
