Additional charges have been filed against a Riverside County shaman who was previously charged with sexually assaulting several young girls in August. Ricardo Isaac Flores, 59, of Rialto, was arrested last month after an investigation from the Riverside County Sheriff's Office when they were approached by multiple victims who claimed that he has assaulted them.
On Friday, during a hearing at the Riverside Hall of Justice, the District Attorney's Office submitted an amended criminal complaint against Flores that added three felony counts to the original seven-count complaint, that included suspicion of forcible rape, aggravated sexual assault of a child and lewd acts on a minor, amongst other charges.
Friday's filing alleges four counts of lewd acts on a child under 14, two counts of penetration of a minor under duress or fear and one count each of forcible rape, penetration with a foreign object, forcible oral copulation of a minor and aggravated sexual assault of a child. There are also a sentence-enhancing allegations of targeting multiple victims in a sex crime. Flores' attorneys requested a delay in arraignment based on the new filing, as they need to review the other information contained in a pretrial services report.
That hearing has been postponed until Wednesday. The investigation started after "multiple victims" arrived at the Moreno Valley sheriff's station to report that they had been victimized at a home in the block of Sandi Lane, according to a statement from August.
Investigators were able to determine that the alleged assaults not only occurred at the Moreno Valley property, but also as "locations throughout" Riverside County, as Flores is the "religious leader of a shamanistic community. Flores was arrested early August 7 at the United States-Mexico border as he returned from a trip, deputies said at the time. He covers breaking news throughout Southern California. When he's not writing about local events, he enjoys focusing on sports and entertainment.
