Sacramento jury convicts man in sex abuse of 3 girls. He faces more than 100 years in prison
A Sacramento County jury has convicted a man for sexually abusing three girls, earning the trust of their families before preying on the children, prosecutors said.
Timothy Michael Bingaman, 36, was found guilty of 10 counts of committing forcible lewd acts on a child and six counts of committing lewd acts upon a child, the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office announced in a news release.
Sacramento Superior Court records show the jury in Bingaman’s case reached the guilty verdict on Thursday. Bingaman was being held Monday at the Sacramento County Jail without bail.
In 2016, Bingaman met a then-9-year-old girl and her family in El Dorado County. Prosecutors said the child’s mother allowed Bingaman to take her daughter along with his family to Sacramento County.
While staying with friends in Sacramento, Bingaman sexually abused the girl on two occasions, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Bingaman also repeatedly sexually abused the 11-year-old daughter of the friend he was staying with in Sacramento, and he continued to abuse her for more than three years, prosecutors said.
Bingaman manipulated and threatened the 11-year-old, telling her “he would kill her father and grandmother” if she told anyone about the sex abuse, prosecutors said. Bingaman became infatuated with the girl and wrote her a love note that became a pivotal piece of evidence against him in his trial, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors said Bingaman earned the trust of a third girl’s family, taking their 9-year-old daughter on vacations with other children. One of those other children was the 11-year-old girl. In 2017, Bingaman took both girls to a hotel room South Lake Tahoe hotel room, where he sexually abused the 9-year-old in the middle of the night, prosecutors said.
The 11-year-old found the courage in 2020 to report the sexual abuse, which started the investigation into Bingaman. Prosecutors said the first 9-year-old that Bingaman victimized kept the abuse secret until she was interviewed by detectives in 2020.
The girl abused in the South Lake Tahoe hotel room reported the abuse in 2022, after she learned her grandmother was supporting Bingaman while he was in custody, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Bingaman is scheduled to return to court for his sentencing hearing on Oct. 20. Prosecutors said Bingaman faces a maximum sentence of 118 years in prison.
