Police found videos of Paul Flores raping woman, prosecutor says at Kristin Smart hearing
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In a 2020 search of Paul Flores’ San Pedro home, investigators found “rape fantasy” pornography and videos that allegedly showed the Kristin Smart murder defendant raping an intoxicated woman, a prosecutor revealed Wednesday in San Luis Obispo Superior Court.
Flores, 44, is accused of killing the Cal Poly freshman, who disappeared in 1996. San Luis Obispo County officials have previously said that the murder occurred during a rape or attempted rape.
Flores and his 80-year-old father, Ruben Flores — who is charged with criminal accessory in the Smart case — appeared in San Luis Obispo Superior Court on Wednesday, marking the first time either man stepped into a courtroom since charges were filed.
The Flores’ court appearance on Wednesday was ahead of a marathon multi-week preliminary hearing expected to start in August and last for at least 12 days.
On Wednesday, the San Luis Obispo District Attorney’s Office presented its amended complaint, which called for two additional charges of rape of an intoxicated person related to incidents in 2011 and 2017 to be filed against Paul Flores.
But Superior Court Judge Craig van Rooyen denied the District Attorney’s Office’s motion to add the two Los Angeles-area rape charges, saying evidence of a sexual assault in the Kristin Smart murder case was “weak.”
“There’s no evidence of a sex crime in the charged crime (the murder case) itself,” van Rooyen said. “Proof of the L.A. charges can’t act as a substitute ... for the SLO case.”
Van Rooyen said that adding additional charges when prosecutors have no physical or forensic evidence “invites error” in the case.
On Wednesday, Deputy District Attorney Christopher Peuvrelle said Los Angeles police as well as the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office have made contact with four women who say they were drugged and raped by Flores.
In February 2020, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office served a search warrant at Flores’ home in the 900 block of West Upland Avenue in San Pedro. Flores has lived in that neighborhood since 2010, according to public records databases.
Authorities also searched two vintage vehicles at the San Pedro home, the Associated Press reported, and took “several electronic devices” out of the house.
During that 2020 search, Peuvrelle said Wednesday, investigators found homemade videos on Flores’ computer that show him allegedly raping an intoxicated woman, as well as pornography titled “Real Drunken Girls Drugged and Raped While Passed Out.”
The videos were located in a computer file labeled “Practice,” according to the prosecutor.
Investigators also found two prescription medications that could be used as date rape drugs, Peuvrelle said, as well as numerous amounts of “fetishized rape fantasy porn.”
“Paul Flores is a defendant who likes to rape and drug intoxicated women,” Peuvrelle said Wednesday. “That’s who he is.”
Additionally, Peuvrelle said, on the night of Smart’s disappearance on Memorial Day weekend in 1996, multiple witnesses observed Flores forcing himself on women at a party both he and Smart attended.
Peuvrelle said that showed Flores’ intent. Smart was last seen with Paul Flores leaving the party and heading to the Cal Poly residence halls that night.
Paul Flores’ attorney, Robert Sanger, argued Wednesday that Peuvrelle’s statements were “a closing argument with a lot of innuendo.”
Sanger said “there is no evidence of a homicide and there’s zero evidence of a rape.”
During Wednesday’s hearing, van Rooyen ruled to unseal the court records in the Kristin Smart murder case related to the District Attorney’s Office’s amended complaint, as requested by Sanger.
The judge also ruled that the media and public will not be barred from the hearing, after Sanger requested to close the proceedings to the public.
In addition, van Rooyen decided to delay a preliminary hearing, originally slated to start July 20, to Aug. 2.
The hearing will be the first time details about the investigation into Smart’s disappearance will be discussed in court testimony.
Paul Flores faces 25 years to life if convicted of murder
Paul Flores was the last person seen with the then-19-year-old Smart before her disappearance in 1996. Her body has never been found, although investigators believe it was buried at Ruben Flores’ Arroyo Grande home and “recently” moved, according to court documents.
Paul and Ruben Flores were arrested in connection to Smart’s disappearance on April 13 in San Pedro and Arroyo Grande, respectively, and the District Attorney’s Office announced the criminal charges against the men the following day.
Paul Flores and his father pleaded not guilty at their arraignment on April 19, when van Rooyen ordered Paul Flores be held without bail.
Paul Flores had been appearing in court via Zoom from San Luis Obispo County Jail.
His father, who lives in Arroyo Grande, was released from County Jail on April 22, hours after van Rooyen significantly lowered his bail because he is not a flight risk or a risk to public safety.
Ruben Flores remains out of custody.
Paul Flores faces a sentence of 25 years to life if convicted of first-degree murder.
Ruben Flores faces a maximum of three years if convicted of the accessory charge, though it is not clear if that sentence would be served in County Jail or state prison.
Van Rooyen has issued a gag order preventing parties involved — including Dow and San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson — from making any public statements regarding the proceedings outside the courtroom.
This story was originally published July 14, 2021 at 5:54 PM with the headline "Police found videos of Paul Flores raping woman, prosecutor says at Kristin Smart hearing."
