A former Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints branch president was charged last month with raping a teenager while he was her religious leader more than 20 years ago.
Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill announced charges against Armando Flores — two counts of first degree rape and one count of object rape — in an indictment that was unsealed on February 26.
Charging documents say Flores, now 69, was convicted of sexual battery against a 17-year-old girl at his church in 2012, but the new charges go back to 2002 through 2004.
The victim in the current case, identified in the documents as “R.M.,” told investigators she was 14 when the abuse began. She said she and her family had recently joined Flores’s church and subsequently he was “prevalent in her life.”
The charging document goes into graphic detail about three occasions when Flores raped the girl, including one time when he got her drunk and took off her clothes and another time when he grabbed her, forced her into his truck, took her to a park, and raped her in the truck.
When she threatened to tell her mother what had happened, Flores reportedly “reminded” her of all he had done for her family, including helping them get monetary assistance and helping her mother get a job — telling her “they needed him” — so that she would not tell.
Flores also told the girl at one point that he knew a “doctor who could sew her up and make her a virgin again.”
“The youth in our community should be able to trust the adults in their lives,” Sill said. “We are here to help them flourish as they grow into adulthood, not hurt them and take advantage of their trust. We appreciate the courage the victim-survivor had to come forward. We will provide her with all the support this office can offer.”
The documents did not say how much, if any, time Flores served for his 2012 conviction or when or under what circumstances he left his post as LDS branch president. But KSL reported that he spent four months in jail in that case and was on probation for three years.
KSL said that investigators have not located Flores and he is still at large.
