BANNING (CNS) – A former Banning police officer who molested a girl on several occasions and showed her pornographic material was sentenced Tuesday to three years’ felony probation.

Christopher John Sayeski, 40, pleaded guilty in October to two counts each of oral copulation of a minor and furnishing explicit images to an underage victim, as well as one count of sexual penetration with a foreign object.

Sayeski’s plea was directly to Riverside County Superior Court Judge Mark Singerton, without input from the District Attorney’s Office.

Singerton in October had indicated the court’s intention to impose a sentence of five years, eight months in state prison.

However, during the sentencing hearing Tuesday at the Banning Justice Center, the judge was swayed by the defense’s arguments in favor of a lesser degree of punishment, ordering the defendant to serve out the probation term, as well as spend 180 days in a sheriff’s work release program, during which he’ll have to be employed or enrolled full time in school.

Singerton also ordered Sayeski to register as a convicted sex offender under Penal Code section 290.

Prosecutors objected to the lenient sentence but were overruled.

Banning police said the defendant resigned from the department on Feb. 11, 2022, a week after he was arrested.

According to the criminal complaint, the acts of molestation occurred on different occasions between August 2017 and October 2020.

The specific relationship between the victim and Sayeski was not disclosed, and it was unclear whether he assaulted her at his residence or at another location.

“The Banning Police Department remains committed to uncompromised integrity of its officers, and it will take all appropriate actions to ensure the public’s trust in this law enforcement agency,” according to a police statement released after the defendant was taken into custody.

It was unclear how long Sayeski had worked in law enforcement.

Ex-Policeman Who Sexually Assaulted Minor Sentenced to Probation