Paul Flores’ alleged long history of sexually assaulting women

August 25, 2022

By KAREN VELIE

For decades, women have accused Paul Flores of sexual assaults, though Wednesday was the first time an alleged victim testified about a rape in court.

Flores is charged with murdering Kristin Smart during an attempted rape in 1996 following a Cal Poly frat party. After the party, Flores helped escort Smart, who was found passed out on a lawn outside the party, back to her dorm room. She was never seen again.

During the preliminary trial in San Luis Obispo County, Judge Craig van Rooyen said there was no evidence of rape in the Smart case and ruled against allowing alleged rape victims to testify at the preliminary hearing. After the case was moved to Monterey County, Judge Jennifer O’Keefe ruled three alleged rape victims would be allowed to testify at trial because of similarities to the Smart case.

On Wednesday, a woman identified as Rhonda Doe testified she met Flores at a Redondo Beach bar in Jan. 2008. Rhonda agreed to walk with Flores to his house, with plans to then head together to meet friends at her home.

Rhonda testified Flores gave her a glass of water, after which she blacked out. She said she woke up several times while Flores raped her, including one time with a ball gag in her mouth as Flores engaged in anal sex.

Rhonda did not report the rape until after she learned Flores was suspected of murdering Smart, because she did not remember much of what happened that night even though she said she only had two drinks.

Prior to the disappearance of Smart, the Arroyo Grande Police Department had the opportunity to arrest Flores for rape, according to allegations in a Daily Beast investigative piece on Flores’ life.

The alleged rape victim in the Daily Beast article, a 39-year-old woman whom the Daily Beast referred to as Jane, says she was roofied, raped and dumped outside her home by Flores, with the help of his friends. The incident allegedly occurred in 1994, when she was a 15-year-old high school student living in Arroyo Grande.

Jane said she began spending time with Flores when he offered her rides to and from high school.

Then one night, Jane went with Flores to a gathering at the home of one of his friends. Jane was was handed a plastic cup, she drank it and blacked out, she said.

She said she felt him inside her during the three seconds she managed to wake up from her sleep. Then she blacked out. The only thing after that she recalled was being dragged through a barely lit street by Flores on one arm and his friend on the other.

Jane’s parents rushed her to Arroyo Grande Community Hospital. Arroyo Grande police arrived, but the officers favored Flores’s account that she willingly drank and had sex, Jane said.

The Daily Beast also interviewed two other women who claim Flores sexually assaulted them, though he did not rape them.

One of the alleged victims, who is referred to as Sarah, said Flores would follow her around and crash parties wherever she was. During a 1995 Halloween party, Flores allegedly grabbed Sarah’s crotch on the dance floor, she said.

In a subsequent incident, Sarah went to the bathroom at a friend’s birthday party and tried to lock the door. But, Flores allegedly crashed the door open and threatened to rape her.

In 2013, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office reviewed a rape allegation against Paul Flores stemming from an incident in Redondo Beach, but decided there was not enough evidence for a prosecution, according to the Los Angeles Times.

During a 2020 raid of Flores’ San Pedro home, deputies discovered multiple rape videos with titles including, “Drugged and raped while passed out” and “Blonde high school girl in skirt gets raped.” Investigators also found two bottles of date rape drugs in Flores’ home, prosecutors said.

In a file labeled “practice,” Paul Flores stored homemade rape videos of himself having sex and sodomizing women. Los Angeles Police Department investigators tracked down two women who said Flores drugged and then raped them. No charges have yet been filed.

Deputies arrested Paul Flores and his father Ruben Flores in April 2021. Ruben Flores is suspected of helping his son dispose of Smart’s body, which prosecutors believe was buried under a deck at Ruben Flores’ home.

Two more alleged rape victims are slated to testify at the trial.