Inland religious leader charged with sexually assaulting kids

The shaman of an Inland Empire religious sect who is accused of sexually assaulting several young girls was charged today with forcible rape and more than a half-dozen other felony counts.

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

Along with rape, Flores is charged with two counts each of lewd acts on a child and penetration of a minor under duress or fear, as well as one count each of penetration with a foreign object and aggravated sexual assault of a child, with sentence-enhancing allegations of targeting multiple victims in a sex crime.

The defendant, who is being held without bail at the Smith Correctional Facility in Banning, was slated to make his initial court appearance Friday afternoon at the Riverside Hall of Justice.  

Sheriff's Sgt. James Merrill said that an investigation into Flores' alleged offenses began at the start of the month, 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 this week, and it was served on him Wednesday morning at the border as he returned from a trip to Mexico.

Flores has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.