LOS LUNAS, N.M. (KRQE) – The former Los Lunas High School coach who was arrested for his inappropriate relationship with a 15-year-old girl has been sentenced. 32-year-old Johnathon Bindues has been sentenced to 23 years in prison, followed by ten years of supervised release.
Bindues was the former coach for the girls’ basketball and track teams at Los Lunas High School. According to court documents, he abused that position and used his job to gain access to underage girls.
Documents say the former coach exchanged over 17,000 text messages with his victim – a freshman girl at the high school – between September 2020 and June 2021. Bindues allegedly sent and requested explicit images in the text messages and encouraged the high schooler to delete them. The messages were found by the victim’s mother, who turned in the information to the New Mexico State Police.
In May 2023, a federal jury convicted Bindues of coercion and enticement of a minor and production of child pornography. On Tuesday, August 8, Bindues was sentenced. Once he is released from prison, he will be required to register as a sex offender.
