Additional charges filed against Riverside County shaman accused of sexual assault, child sex abuse

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (CNS) -- Additional charges were filed Friday against the shaman of an Inland Empire religious sect accused of sexually assaulting several young girls, prompting a postponement in his arraignment.

Ricardo Isaac Flores, 59, of Rialto was arrested last month following a Riverside County Sheriff's Department investigation.

During a hearing at the Riverside Hall of Justice Friday, the District Attorney's Office submitted an amended criminal complaint against Flores to Superior Court Judge Walter Kubelun, adding three felony counts to the original seven-count complaint.

The revised complaint alleges four counts of lewd acts on a child under 14 years old, 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, with sentence-enhancing allegations of targeting multiple victims in a sex crime.

Flores' attorneys requested a delay in his arraignment based on the new filing, and the need to review other information contained in a pretrial services report.

Kubelun postponed the hearing to Wednesday.

The defendant is being held without bail at the Smith Correctional Facility in Banning.

Sheriff's Sgt. James Merrill said an investigation into Flores' alleged offenses began at the start of the August, when "multiple victims" appeared at the sheriff's Moreno Valley station, saying they had been victimized "at a residence in the 26000 block of Sandi Lane in Moreno Valley.''

Merrill said detectives probed further and confirmed alleged assaults occurred not only at the Sandi Lane property, but "locations throughout the county.''

Flores had access to the alleged victims, whose identities were not disclosed, as a result of his being "the religious leader of a shamanistic
community,'' according to the sergeant.

The specific sect was not identified, nor were the victims. Investigators also did not detail the circumstances behind the alleged
assaults.

Merrill said that a warrant was obtained for the defendant's arrest, and it was served on him the morning of Aug. 7 at the border as he returned from a trip to Mexico.

Flores has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.

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