A Bingham man who was arrested early last week on charges he sexually assaulted two young children was taken into custody again days later after he contacted people involved in the assault case, the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office said Monday.

Christopher C. Cates, 48, has a history of convictions for sex crimes and was arrested Sept. 24 by sheriff’s deputies for what investigators said were assaults on two young girls earlier this year in Moscow. Cates faces several charges in that case, including unlawful sexual contact and indecent conduct.

Cates posted bail and was later released from the Somerset County Jail in Madison.

Five days later, on Friday, Cates was arrested again when sheriff’s investigators determined he was “tampering with the victims and witnesses in violation of bail conditions,” the Sheriff’s Office said in a statement released to the news media.

Cates now faces new charges, including tampering with a victim, tampering with a witness and violating conditions of release.

He was being held without bail Monday at the Somerset County Jail.

Cates has at least seven convictions over a 10-year period for offenses that included unlawful sexual contact, indecent contact and prohibited contact with a child younger than 14, officials said. His most recent conviction was in 2021.