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Paul Flores’ alleged long history of sexually assaulting women

August 25, 2022

A deputy escorting Paul Flores from his home in San Pedro

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.


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It seems to me that every woman who testifies Flores raped them is a plus for the defense.

The defense will argue at closing that Flores may be a rapist but none of the alleged victims

were murdered nor did he attempt to murder any of them,


Keep in mind the case is being tried out of county and the juries have not been exposed to the case for the last twenty-five years, Flores will have all kinds of grounds to appeal if convicted with what is essentially a circus in Salinas, (if he can afford appeals and he will be in jail).


I personally have never heard of any trial where they go a few hours a day, skip a few days or a week and alternating juries, etc,. It gives a whole new meaning to “speedy trial’.


Not to worry.


You can bet that the L.A. PD or Sheriffs Office has put a hold on him for the two 2020 rapes, From the reporting it sounds like those cases are good. At that trial they have the Salinas alleged rape victims testify. They haven’t said so either because of the gag order, they don’t want to fall into the excess publicly hole, or maybe they just want to wait for the end of the trial.


That way if Flores gets a reversal on appeal for the murder conviction or gets a sentence of less than life without possibility of parole he does the max. consecutively for the two rapes and all the lesser included and enhancement offenses like using drugs, unconscious, etc.


Even with good time it should net him somewhere between 20 and 25 years behind bars,


By the time he gets out of jail he’ll likely be to old to rape anyone else. That is assuming he isn’t murdered in prison by an inmate(s) that have been following the Smart case, Yes, they have TV and newspapers in prisons,


Did he murder Smart? We’ll only know for sure if he confesses,


-2

I will get a lot of hate for this but, it seems there’s a lot of hearsay and not much physical evidence. I wish they had the “smoking gun”.


-5

I too have reservations about where this trial is headed. It’s seems that they are proving that Paul Flores is a asshole, but I want him convicted of murder!!!

The judge allowing prejudicial testimony of Paul Flores being a pervert and rapist is not what he’s being tried for, I hope this doesn’t set him up for appeal:(


3

After listening to Your Own Backyard & hearing witness testimony, its painfully clear the San Luis Police Department botched this case for 2 decades.

It was shocking to find out SLO police couldn’t be bothered to interview dozens of prime witnesses until after the podcast came out. When Parkinson made headlines for himself, (of course) digging up Cal poly hill, they weren’t re-interviewing witnesses, but it sure made the News. Paul Flores is no criminal mastermind. He’s a drunk and “alleged” rapist, with a 25 year plus history of assaulting women and girls. He sailed his way through a system of misogyny & shitty police work. The thing about San Luis Is, as long as you know the right people, you can have a lovely career doing nothing but cashing your government checks. So much schmoozing, so little time for work.

Chris Lambert solved this case. Period. And he didn’t even get paid for it.


62

This case occurred in the jurisdiction of the State of California and the SLO County Sheriff’s Office, not SLO Police Department.


8

Paul and Reuben Flores have long-ago expired membership cards in the humanity club.


26

Excellent reporting Ms. Velie. Thanks for the update.


I always tend to believe the women in these cases. Flores is a serial rapist who wasn’t stopped. Tragic, but probably happens every day. I just hope the jury in Salinas can see through the ineptitude of local law enforcement and put this guy behind bars for good. I think the Smart family deserves closure on this.


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