Former ACT Driver Slated For Arraignment Friday

Joseph Dimas faces charges of child solicitation. Courtesy/LAPD
 
By MAIRE O’NEILL
Los Alamos Daily Post

A former driver for Los Alamos County Atomic City Transit is scheduled for arraignment Friday before Judge Mary L. Marlowe Sommers in First Judicial District Court in Santa Fe. 

Joseph Dimas, 31, faces charges of child solicitation by electronic communication device (child aged 13 to 16) and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He was arrested in October 2016 and on Jan. 26 bound over to District Court.

According to the statement of probable cause filed in the Los Alamos Magistrate Court, Sgt. Timothy Lonz and Los Alamos Police Det. Matt Lyon interviewed a 13-year-old girl and her grandfather Oct. 7, 2016, at which time the girl said she had been riding Dimas’s bus for several months and “the relationship had grown intimate”. She reportedly told police that after a while Dimas asked for her telephone number and she gave it to him. The statement claims the girl said their text messages “involved sexual content and she sent Dimas sexual photographs of her in her bra”.

The statement alleges that at one point Dimas met the girl at a park in his vehicle and they talked for approximately 30 minutes but “did not do anything during the time in the vehicle”. It goes on to say that the girl “stated on other occasions” she and Dimas would “meet and kiss and Joseph Dimas would touch her on her buttocks and breast”. The statement says that the girl “stated they never had sexual intercourse and she did not know the exact dates of when the sexual encounters began”.

Later the same day, Det. Lyon met with Dimas at Los Alamos County Human Resources and Dimas agreed to go to the police department for an interview during which he allegedly advised that he had been talking to the girl for several months both verbally and through text messages. The statement says Dimas said that he remembered having the girl meet him at a park “at which time she got into his personal vehicle and talked”.

Dimas also stated that the girl would send him photographs of her face and one time sent him a photograph of her only in her bra. Dimas said that at the time the kiss happened on the bus he only pecked (her) on her cheeks, forehead and lips. Dimas stated that during the kissing he did grab (her) buttocks and breast. Dimas stated he never touched (her) under her clothes and the time he did touch (her) on her buttocks and breast it was consensual,” the statement reads.

In supplemental notes in the LAPD incident report of Monday, Oct. 10, 2016, Det. Lyon says he received video footage from Los Alamos County Deputy Public Works Director Jon Bulthuis that was captured from an ACT bus operated by Dimas on two dates in September 2016.

The notes claim the footage from Sep. 19, 2016 show Dimas and the girl as the only persons on the bus. The notes say, “You can hear Joseph Dimas asking (her), ‘do you want me?’.” Dimas also asked (her) if she is going to text him. During the bus ride Dimas and (the girl) also talk about their relationship together. Dimas is heard telling (her) that the only way the relationship will exist is if they start to text. During the bus ride Dimas stops the bus and he and (the girl) start kissing and hugging. At one point Dimas slaps (her) on the buttocks in which (she) responds in what sounded like a joyful manner to stop. (The girl) is heard laughing throughout the bus ride.”

The second video referenced in the police notes, “shows Joseph Dimas and (the girl) holding hands and also shows Joseph Dimas and (the girl) kissing and hugging again. Joseph Dimas also grabs (her) buttocks during the video”.

The Los Alamos County Assistant Human Resources manager said Wednesday that Dimas has not been employed by the County since Oct. 20, 2016.

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