Los Alamos man gets 8 years in prison

Girls contacted on internet; Davis admits having sex with 2

A Santa Fe judge on Thursday sentenced a 24-year-old Los Alamos man to an eightyear prison term for sexually preying on underage girls with the help of the internet, actions for which he tearfully apologized in court but which one of his victims said he had “yet to atone for.”

With credit for almost two years served awaiting trial and the opportunity to earn day-for-day good-time, Christopher Davis could be out of prison in three or four years.

Davis had faced the possibility of as many as 24 years for multiple counts of criminal sexual penetration and other charges, but District Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed all but the eight years under terms of a plea bargain that gave her leeway to sentence Davis to between one and 10 years in prison.

The case provided a fresh example of how online communication in recent years frequently has become a factor in crimes involving sexual exploitation of young people.

The charges against Davis, which also included criminal sexual communication with a child and child solicitation by electronic communication device, came in 2014 after a Minnesota mother reported Davis had been exchanging sexually explicit text messages and photos with her 15-year-old daughter.

When police confronted Davis, court documents say, he asked if they were there regarding two other underage Los Alamos girls and admitted to having sex with both of them.

A search of his electronic devices indicated Davis “pursued a systematic pattern of sexually preying on girls or young women that were vulnerable,” according to a sentencing memorandum prepared by Assistant Attorney General Anthony Long, who prosecuted the case. “In almost every situation, the defendant would claim that he had been raped. He would often threaten to commit suicide if they stopped communicating with him.”

Defense attorney Dori Biagianti Smith noted that Davis and two of the girls were within five or six years in age when the sexual encounters happened.

Smith said the girls were the aggressors and that Davis — who has multiple mental health issues including anxiety and a diagnosis of depressive bipolar disorder — was not a pedophile but was acting out of an “intense need for affection.”

She said it would be more appropriate to sentence him to probation and treatment.

The judge disagreed, saying Davis’ actions while his case was pending — including violating court orders to stay off the internet and away from underage women — indicated he couldn’t be safely returned to the community.

One of Davis’ victims said Thursday that her contact with Davis had caused her “three and a half years of pain” and robbed her of her ability to trust others.

“You seem to have yet to atone for what you have done,” she told Davis. “Perhaps time to think with other criminals will start to make up for the pain you have caused others.”

Davis’ legally blind grandfather spoke on his behalf, asking the judge to allow his grandson — who he said was a talented photographer and churchgoer — to live with him and get treatment instead of going to prison.

Davis addressed the court tearfully, apologizing for his actions and saying he took full responsibility, “knowing it would be wrong to shift the blame to anyone else” for the choices he had made.

“I have learned from my mistakes, and I am determined to turn my life around and ready to accept the consequences of my actions, whatever they might be,” he said.

Davis’ mother wept inconsolably through his sentencing hearing.