A deputy with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department was arrested in Twentynine Palms on Thursday, accused of participating in a local criminal biker gang and possessing multiple illegal firearms, including a machine gun.
The deputy, 45-year-old Christopher Bingham, had been the subject of a departmental investigation since January. The sheriff’s gangs/narcotics division discovered that Bingham “rode and socialized” with several members of a local “Outlaw Motorcycle Gang,” according to a press release from the department.
The release gave the following account:
On March 23, Bingham was seen riding his motorcycle with two OMG members in Beaumont, and sheriff’s deputies and California Highway Patrol officers pulled him over and found a loaded, unregistered firearm on Bingham. He was then arrested and booked at the Smith Correctional Facility in Banning, where jail records show he was released the next day on a $10,000 bail.
Investigators, who had a warrant, later searched Bingham’s home in Twentynine Palms, where they found about 160 firearms, including one fully automatic assault rifle with a grenade launcher attached. The department also reported finding gang paraphernalia, silencers, “destructive devices” and a stolen sheriff’s department shotgun.
Following the search, the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s office filed several felony charges against Bingham, including grand theft of a firearm, possession of a stolen firearm, participation in a criminal street gang and possession of a machine gun.
Bingham was arrested Thursday afternoon at a residence on the 7200 block of Adobe Road in Twentynine Palms, and he was being held at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga on a $500,000 bail.
“The actions of this deputy are alarming and inexcusable; he not only tarnishes his badge but also undermines the integrity and credibility of the entire department,” San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus said in a prepared statement. “Criminal behavior will not be tolerated, and we have placed him on compulsory leave effective immediately.”
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: San Bernardino sheriff’s deputy arrested, accused of biker gang ties
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