SKOWHEGAN — A three-time convicted sex offender from Bingham was sentenced to 90 days in jail this week for exposing himself to women downtown in March.

Christopher Carl Cates, 36, of Nichols Hill Road, was sentenced Wednesday to two concurrent three-month jail terms on two indecent conduct charges. A third charge of having contact with a minor, a violation related to his being a registered sex offender in Maine, was dismissed, according to court documents.

Cates pleaded guilty to the indecent conduct charges June 28.

Skowhegan police Officer Ronnie Blodgett said in a court affidavit that Cates also is alleged to have approached two girls the same day of the indecent conduct, March 15. In each incident,

Cates allegedly asked the girls and women for directions while in his car, a blue, older model Lincoln Town Car.

The girls, Blodgett said, ages 15 and 18, had been told not to talk to strangers and did not approach the car. The women were less suspicious and were subjected to the indecent conduct — once on Court Street near the movie theater, the other on nearby Bush Street, he said.

In both cases, Cates pulled his car up next to the women and held a business card over his exposed genitals, according to court documents.

When the women looked closer to read the card, Cates exposed himself.

The contact with a minor is said to have happened on Cardinal Street, where he approached one of the girls, who was in the company of her 12-year-old brother.

Cates has a conviction in 2000 of unlawful sexual contact with a victim who was 11 at the time and was prohibited from having contact with children under 14. He was charged with violating that provision by talking to the 12-year-old brother.

Cates also has convictions for unlawful sexual contact in 1996 and 2004, according to court documents.

Charges also were brought against Cates in Franklin County in 2008, when he was charged with unlawfully touching two girls while performing massages and exposing himself to a female jail guard. Those charges are not considered sex offenses and did not qualify for the registry.

Doug Harlow — 612-2367

dharlow@centralmaine.com