It’s now been more than three years since former Riverside County Sheriff’s Lt. Samuel Flores was indicted—along with colleagues Sgt. Robert Christolon and Deputy Kevin Carpenter, and Cody Close, the owner of a towing company—on charges including bribery, conspiracy to commit a crime and unlawful computer-network access.
Flores has been vilified, terminated and driven toward financial ruin—and he claims that not only is he wrongly accused; he says he is being framed.
The Independent first reported on the case back in May 2022, after talking to Michael Reed, one of Flores’ attorneys, and honorably retired Riverside County Sheriff’s Sgt. Joel Morales, an investigator on Flores’ team. Now, as the case drags on, Flores has agreed to speak out himself.
“I never wanted to believe that things like this happened in law enforcement,” Flores said during a recent interview. “… But now I’ve seen it firsthand. I have the evidence in my hands, and I’m looking at it, and I’m in disbelief. When I discovered some of these things that Michael Reed brought forward in his motions, I broke down. I couldn’t believe it.
“I’m sitting there, staring right at it, and I’m thinking that there’s no way this was an accident. There’s no way.”
Flores’ team claims the case against him has been built using sworn untruths, manipulated documents, internal intimidation and bullying, and more.
Flores said that when he started his 22-year career with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department (RCSD)—serving in Perris, where he grew up—it was a dream come true.
“It seemed like it was out of my reach, especially when I was growing up as a poor kid in the ghettos of Perris,” Flores said. “It was a pretty tough neighborhood in Perris back in the ’80s, (and I was) getting stopped by the police regularly. I mean, I looked like a duck; I walked like a duck, but I wasn’t a duck. I just lived in a bad, poor neighborhood.
“At one point, I was stopped by the police, put in the back of the police car, and I was handcuffed. … While I was sitting in the backseat of that police car, I saw all the gizmos and gadgets and I thought, ‘This is it. This is going to be my career.’”
He was hired by the department in June 1999. He built his career with the help of his wife of more than 30 years, Vicki; she also works for the RCSD. They’ve had three daughters, one of whom followed in her parents’ footsteps by joining the department.
“All I wanted to do was go back to my neighborhood where I grew up and make a difference in that community and that city,” he said. “And, boy, did I. … I got ‘Deputy of the Year’ in 2005 for making the most felony arrests. I received commendation after commendation from the city. I was assigned to special teams, and I was just basically on fire to the point where I caught the attention of somebody somewhere down the road there. In 2006, I was drafted by the FBI to (represent the RCSD) on their task force.”
Flores would serve on that task force into 2010.
“It was a multi-agency task force comprised of local law enforcement agencies—the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, the Riverside Police Department, the San Bernardino Police Department, state parole and, for a short while there, the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office, and two federal agents,” Flores said. “So I was assigned to the FBI. I basically lived with them, for lack of a better term, for about four years. My office was in their office in downtown Riverside. … In the four years I was there, the only time the Sheriff’s Department ever heard from me was when I turned in my payroll sheets. Basically, I was a fugitive hunter for the county of Riverside. So, any wily criminals that fled from justice, those cases were given to me, and then I would pursue those people and bring them to justice.”
Between 2005 and 2012, Flores earned more than 14 commendations and awards from a variety of organizations. In addition to the 2005 Deputy of the Year honor, he received a 2005 unit citation for going above and beyond duty in apprehending 60 “wanted” parolees in one day. He earned a 2007 Investigative Excellence Award for apprehending 11 kidnappers and rescuing a victim. He nabbed a 2007 Police Chief Executive Commendation from the City of San Bernardino for apprehending nine homicide suspects in a six-month period. He won a 2010 Heroes With a Heart award for rescuing a woman who wanted to jump off a freeway overpass.
The Independent contacted the RCSD public information bureau to discuss Flores’ case. Sgt. Deirdre Vickers responded via email, saying in part, “The case you are inquiring about … is being handled by the District Attorney’s Office, and our department will not comment on pending litigation.”
In January 2018, Flores was put in charge of the traffic department at the Temecula Southwest Station. He proudly talks about decreasing the number of traffic-related fatalities from 13 in 2017 to three in 2018.
In 2019, Flores appeared to be heading toward a promotion to captain. At the time, Capt. John Morin headed up the Jurupa Valley Station. Because of Flores’ record and rumors of Flores’ impending promotion, Morin was thrilled when he was asked if he’d like to have Flores transferred onto his team.
Morin, who has since honorably retired, recently spoke to the Independent.
“In February or March (of 2019), the week before Sam transferred to my station, I got a phone call from Chief Joe Pemberton, and he said, ‘John, would you like to have Sam Flores as a lieutenant?’ I’d been short a lieutenant, so I’m like, ‘Heck yeah, I’ll take Sam Flores as a lieutenant. Why? What’s going on?’
“I couldn’t understand why Capt. Lisa McConnell in Temecula (Southwest Station) would let an A-player go. He was her best lieutenant. So, (Pemberton) said, ‘Well, John, he’s going to be a captain, and there are some shenanigans going on down in Temecula regarding a tow company. He’s not involved in it; however, he oversees a couple of the people (involved). We want to make sure that he’s not involved in this. … And I said, ‘Copy that. And he (Flores) had nothing to do with it?’ ‘No, absolutely not,’ Pemberton told me. So, I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll take him tomorrow.’”
Flores said he was elated to work with Morin. He was assigned to build a team to battle street racing, something that was embarrassing Sheriff Chad Bianco.
“That was the first time that John and I had ever worked together, and I hit the ground running there,” Flores said. “I had all the experience, and he was very happy with my performance. I started doing things, and bringing my subtle changes to (the department). John and I were of the same mentality as far as taking care of our troops. The morale there was just phenomenal. … So when the opportunity came to stand up this (street racing) team for the sheriff … I was the guy (Captain Morin) wanted to have doing this.”
During our interview, Morin delivered a lengthy monologue on the internal RCSD political machinations that be believes fueled the administrative and criminal cases targeting Lt. Flores.
“In all estimations, Sam Flores is an outstanding A-player,” Morin said. “He’s 100% dedicated, and his integrity is without question. He has a very strong Christian attitude, and he’s the type of guy who works seven days a week. So … I’m assigned by the sheriff to get this street racing team done.”
Morin said he told Bianco he was assigning Flores to the team. “He says, ‘Absolutely. Perfect.’”
Morin said Flores and the team started making an immediate impact, working seven days a week with informants to learn where street racing will occur. Morin said that in June 2019, Flores was asked to make a presentation during a sheriff’s commanders meeting.
“(Flores) gets accolades from Sheriff Bianco, and the entire team,” Morin said.
However, not all was well with Flores and the RCSD. Morin told the Independent that in July 2019, he started hearing that Flores was one of the persons of interest in the towing-company investigation.
“What struck me about it was that the tow investigation was being handled by a regular deputy,” Morin said. That was Deputy Nicholas Jones. “That surprised me, because at that time, we had a standard operating procedure that said all investigations on (employees) at the rank of sergeant or above shall be completed by not just an investigator, but a master investigator.
“Then one day in September … I hear that they’re going to put Sam on administrative leave. I thought, ‘What is going on here? The Sam Flores I know would never do anything wrong.’ I asked Sam, ‘What’s going on with this investigation?’ And he said, ‘Honestly, nothing. I can’t even figure out what’s going on. From what I understand, they’re trying to say that I took a gratuity for staying in a condo in San Diego. But I didn’t take a gratuity. It was a friend of mine, and I paid the cleaning fee.’ So, I asked, ‘Well, what was the cleaning fee?’ And Sam told me, ‘It was like $500. It was expensive.’ I said, ‘That’s not much of a break.’”
On Sept. 20, 2019, Flores was placed on administrative leave.
“All of a sudden, I’m hearing that I should have known about all of this before I put him on the street-racing team,” Morin said. “Like I should have known that he was involved in this investigation as a ‘bad person.’ I thought, ‘How ironic.’ The sheriff really handpicks (Sam for the street racing assignment) with me. The chief tells me he’s going to be a captain. But now they need a scapegoat.”
Morin said he suspects Jones wrote the investigation as he did because he wanted a promotion.
“In order to make rank, he wanted to do an investigation that made it look like a sergeant and a lieutenant and everyone (involved) was bad, and he exposed them. But in reality, he didn’t even do his job. He didn’t look into all the facts, and he didn’t dig into questions,” Morin said.
Morin continued: “Around the time that Sam was walked out, the sheriff wants to back off from a decision he made, correct? So, he’s now pointing a finger at me, saying, ‘He should have never put (Flores) over the street racing team. What was he thinking?’ I’m in shock, because I’m like, ‘First, the chief told me Flores was going to be a captain, and second, his last captain just agreed with me on (a favorable) eval and then wrote another outstanding eval for him, and third, the sheriff himself gave (Flores) kudos and praise during the June commanders meeting.’ So, the sheriff needs a scapegoat.”
On March 12, 2020, the criminal indictments of Lt. Flores, Sgt. Robert Christolon and Deputy Kevin Carpenter were announced by the District Attorney’s Office. One of the main sources of evidence was Deputy Jones’ report.
Flores said he was devastated and heartbroken.
“I admit that I cried,” he said. “I devoted my youth to this agency, this organization. … The sheriff’s department is a great organization, but it’s the people who are in charge. It’s the people who are running the department that I have an issue with. These were all people that I considered to be my friends.”
Backing up a bit: On Oct. 23, 2019, then-RCSD Assistant Sheriff Raul Vergara hired honorably retired Riverside County District Attorney investigator Eric Nevins to conduct another investigation, separate from Jones’ report, into the actions and conduct of Lt. Flores and Sgt. Christolon. Nevins did not interview Flores until May 12, 2020—two months after the indictments had been announced.
“I had what they call an ‘admin interview,’ where they order you to talk,” Flores said. “When I went in there, rather than being remorseful, embarrassed and laying on my back to kiss Chad (Bianco)’s ring, I went in and I was in fight-or-flight mode. I went in with truth, documentation and evidence, and I showed it to Investigator Nevins, and I said, ‘Look. Here is your map to my innocence. Do these things, and you will see that what I’m being accused of is not correct. Look here, here, here and there.’”
On May 20, 2020, Nevins met with Morin.
“I believe Nevins … was hired by us (the RCSD command staff) as a supposed outside set of eyes to look at the administrative ramifications,” Morin said. “So, he interviews me about the transfer. … I tell him everything. I’ve got nothing to lose, and I’m damn sure not afraid of the sheriff. … I tell him everything, and he actually shuts off the (tape) recorder, and says, ‘I gotta be honest with you, John: This whole thing is a joke.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, I think it’s a joke too.’ He said, ‘They’ve got nothing on Sam. I’ve interviewed everyone. The only person I’ve got left (to interview) is Capt. Lisa McConnell.’”
Nevins finished his internal review on Aug. 2, 2020. Morin said he heard that Flores would be exonerated.
“That was widely known in our internal affairs (department),” Morin said. “But again, the sheriff needs a scapegoat. He had made a mistake. He had allowed a deputy to conduct this investigation, and it was going to put pie on his (Bianco’s) face.”
Morin said that Bianco didn’t want Flores exonerated, because Bianco had already made Flores the scapegoat.
“Lo and behold, when the report does come out, (someone had) changed … the ending,” Morin said. “That was Sgt. John (Wade) Lenton, (who) worked at internal affairs. … The sheriff had him rewrite the conclusions on Sam. Then, I believe, Lenton was promoted. This all happened within a year, I believe. It’s just horrifying.”
Not long after Eric Nevins concluded his investigation, the Flores defense team began to receive assistance from unexpected sources, they said. First, Flores said his team learned, via an anonymous phone call, that Nevins’ report had been changed.
“Somebody felt that was absolutely wrong,” Flores said. “I received a phone call, out of the blue, from an unknown number saying, ‘Hey … that report that was submitted is not true and correct. You need to have your attorneys ask for the real administrative report.’ When I told my attorney, he was like, ‘No, no … that can’t be true.’ … My attorney contacted Eric Nevins, and Nevins confirmed that the report we received was, in fact, not his original report.”
When reached by the Independent, Nevins said he was prohibited from commenting for this story, because it deals with an active court case.
Both versions of Nevins’ report describe, in detail, the facts of the case. Both versions appear on Nevins’ template, with his business address and contact information at the top and bottom of every page; however, at the top of the “Conclusions” section of the rewritten report, it says: “Although Nevins Professional Investigations conducted the interviews for this investigation, conclusions of any violations of Riverside County Sheriff Departmental general orders, policies, or procedures, were drawn by Sergeant Lenton of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Professional Standards Bureau.”
“Bianco was now trying to save face, so he was kind of talking shit about me, how I should have known, and all this weird stuff. … I could see that this sheriff was willing to do anything to protect himself.”
Retired Riverside County Sheriff’s Capt. John Morin
In his original report, Nevins said Flores at times displayed poor judgment, and that he was involved in conflicts of interest regarding Close—but Nevins stated in his summary conclusions that the lapses in judgment attributed to Flores would not justify criminal bribery and conspiracy charges.
Nevins wrote: “Lieutenant Flores purchased various vehicle parts from DJ’s Towing between early 2018 and mid-2019. Purchasing vehicle parts from a tow company is not in itself illegal, however if it is done due to a conspiracy and kickbacks, this would be illegal. … Although Flores received vehicle parts at an apparent discounted price, there is no evidence that he was involved in a conspiracy to pad DJ’s Towing profits by turning a blind eye to Carpenter’s behavior. The opposite is more factual that he did not know what Carpenter and Close were doing. Flores made some poor choices by letting Close pay for meals, renting the beach house at an under-market price, and buying vehicle parts from a business that had a contract with the Southwest Station (conflicts of interest), but that doesn’t amount to a crime of bribery or conspiracy to commit bribery.”
In contrast, the version of Nevins’ report altered by Lenton, says: “Lieutenant Flores’ position as the Traffic Lieutenant within the Southwest Station afforded him the ability to use his position to assist Cody Close’s business. After their relationship developed, Lieutenant Flores gave Cody Close a wish list of vehicles he wanted, began receiving vehicles and vehicle parts from Cody Close, and used Cody Close’s beach house at a discounted rate. In furtherance of their unlawful relationship, Lieutenant Flores began using his influence within the department to attempt to expand Cody Close’s business by recommending him for additional contracts in the county. These actions led to Lieutenant Flores being indicted by the Riverside County grand jury for three (3) felony charges.”
Flores insisted to the Independent that despite Nevins’ conclusion that he exercised poor judgment, his dealings with Close were nothing but the normal give and take of two friends.
“Everybody keeps focusing on the fact that (Close) is a tow operator,” Flores said. “Actually, he’s a first responder. He’s a fulltime fireman. So, the fact that we hit it off as fellow first responders is not uncommon.”
Investigator Morales added: “Prior to (Flores) even being there (in Temecula), (Close) was entrenched in Southwest Station like nobody’s business with the captains and the whole administration there. It was to the point where they used his resources for the department’s yearly Christmas parade.”
On Oct. 5, 2020, Flores’ “Skelly” hearing took place. The purpose of a Skelly hearing is for a law-enforcement employee to plead their case to the chief (in this case, Chief Joe Pemberton) with the hopes of getting department superiors to reconsider any discipline.
Flores said he was surprised to see an attorney attending the hearing on behalf of the RCSD. Morales, who also attended the hearing, explained why this was strange.
“When it comes to Skelly hearings, the typical practice in the history of the agency is that there’s never one of their attorneys present,” Morales said. “It’s just to present and to serve the employee. This time, they brought county counsel, a court-employed lawyer that they seek advice from, to sit in on a Skelly hearing. That does not happen.”
Said Flores: “You have to ask yourself the question: Why (was the counsel there)? My comments in that hearing were discoverable. The only answer is for intimidation. It was an intimidation factor to try and keep me from speaking, and to try and limit my responses. It didn’t work … They were hoping that I would go away.”
“If this is happening to somebody like me with knowledge, expertise and experience in law enforcement, and who has the resources to be able to defend myself, I can’t imagine what they’re doing to members of the public who don’t have that same knowledge or resources,”
Former Riverside County Sheriff’s Lt. Samuel Flores
About two weeks later, on Oct. 20, 2020, Flores was fired by the RCSD. Morin said this didn’t sit well with some members of the department—including Pemberton.
“Chief Pemberton walked into my office one day, which was a surprise, because he never visited any of the stations,” Morin said. “He was distraught. I said, ‘What’s up, chief?’”
Morin said Pemberton was upset that employees kept winning administrative hearings, because Bianco’s decisions to put employees on administrative leave, or terminate them, were being challenged frequently in arbitration. According to Morin, Permberton told him, “I never wanted these guys fired or released in the first place. But the sheriff makes the decision, and then I’ve got to go sit in these arbitration meetings and get beat up. It’s absolutely ridiculous. I don’t think we’ve won one (case) yet.’”
Then the discussion turned to Flores. “He goes, ‘Yeah, that’s ridiculous. I have no idea why the sheriff is going after him,’” Morin said. “And I said, ‘Yeah. It’s absolutely ridiculous.’ He goes, ‘Yeah, they got nothing on him.’ And I said, ‘Yep.’”
In January 2021, Flores’ defense team asked to meet with the district attorney’s office to illuminate the problems with the criminal case against Flores. In attendance, Flores said, were Deputy District Attorney Janet Hasegawa, who was handling the criminal case at the time; Managing Deputy District Attorney Kamaria Henry, who was in charge of public integrity; and Deputy Nicholas Jones.
“It’s just really strange that we open everything up to the DA and the investigator, and we show them all the flaws in the investigation, (and say) ‘Look how negligent it was,’” Flores said. “The DA supervisor (Kamaria Henry) was there for the presentation, and rather than say, ‘You know what? We need to take a second look at this, and maybe we should put our own investigator on this and have him re-investigate the entire thing, just so we’re sure going forward,’” the office kept moving ahead with the case.
According to both Reed and Morales, Henry did suggest at that time that the assistant district attorney who would be assigned to the case should arrange to see the presentation. Hasegawa was removed from the case soon thereafter, and another deputy district attorney, Francisco Navarro, was brought in, but he never requested the repeat presentation. Navarro was recently replaced on this case by deputy district attorney Natasha Sorace, but, still, no one from the district attorney’s office has contacted the Flores defense team to see the defense’s potentially exculpatory evidence.
In August 2021, Morin decided to resign, because he’d had enough.
“Bianco was now trying to save face, so he was kind of talking shit about me, how I should have known, and all this weird stuff,” he said. “… I could see that this sheriff was willing to do anything to protect himself. So, after 25 years, I just said, ‘I don’t need this. I don’t want to work for this clown.’”
Since September 2021,the criminal court proceedings have lurched along slowly, with long delays due to a variety of factors, including attorney schedule conflicts, a court calendar backed up by the pandemic, and what Flores’ team calls stalling tactics by the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office.
Meanwhile, Flores claims that a representative from the Office of County Counsel made a verbal job offer to Flores through his defense attorney Michael Reed.
“The county of Riverside came to me with an offer to go away, and I respectfully declined their offer,” Flores said. “… This has been devastating financially for us as a family, and mentally and physically (difficult). I’ve lost 40 pounds as a result of this. I think that they thought that I was desperate. … I was still fired, but they were going to give me money and service credit and drop the whole administrative investigation. But I had to sign a non-disclosure agreement. I was offended by their offer, and I told them, ‘No.’”
After a final trial-readiness court hearing for the case took place on Feb. 24, Flores’ criminal trial has been scheduled to begin between March 28 and April 11.
Flores said he’s eager for the legal limbo to end, and he’s trying to make the best of the situation.
“I thought about getting another job,” Flores said, “but if I go apply for a job, all you have to do is look up Lt. Flores, and you’ll see that I’ve been indicted for bribery, conspiracy and something about entering false information into computers. … So, my days are spent taking care of my little ones who I absolutely love. I’ve got two little girls, a 12-year-old and a 13-year-old. They’re my babies, (and) I take care of them. I make them breakfast, pack their lunches, send them off to school, pick them up from school, bring them home and help them to do their homework. I’ve tried to become the best dad that I possibly can. I’ve gotten to know my kids a lot better as a result of all this.”
He said the delays have also, in a way, been a blessing to him regarding the legal proceedings.
“Those delays have allowed us to dig deeper and deeper into this case and find evidence that was hidden, falsified or manipulated,” he said. “… My attorneys are good, but because I have so much time on my hands, I’ve been able to dissect this case—and I’m not new to this. I was a phenomenal deputy. I worked a lot of cases, (and) I was in charge of investigators to ensure that their investigations were up to snuff, and to make sure that (their cases) had all of the proper elements before they went to the DA’s office. I’ll tell you the same thing I told the chief deputy: Who in the hell looked at this case and said it was good to go?”
The Independent contacted Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin, who arranged a phone interview with Managing Deputy District Attorney Kamaria Henry and assistant district attorney Elaina Bentley. While both Henry and Bentley stated multiple times that they could not discuss the specifics of any particular active case, they did take more than 30 minutes to review the case history, in an effort to show that the district attorney’s office was not responsible for the many continuances that have stretched out the court hearings for almost three years.
They pointed out that each continuance had to be approved at the time in the courtroom by both the prosecution and each defendant’s attorney, and that objections should have been filed by the defense if they felt that their right to a speedy trial was being abused. They also emphasized the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the court system, and the fact that the courts have yet to fully recover.
For their part, the Flores defense team contends that the majority of the delays have revolved around the district attorney’s office’s efforts to keep the original Nevins investigative report out of the criminal case.
As his trial date at last draws near, Flores said he’s hopeful that truth will prevail.
“If this is happening to somebody like me with knowledge, expertise and experience in law enforcement, and who has the resources to be able to defend myself, I can’t imagine what they’re doing to members of the public who don’t have that same knowledge or resources,” he said. “There has to be accountability. What I’d like to do is make sure that (this) does not happen to anybody else. When this is all said and done, I’m either going to donate my time or apply for a position in the Public Defender’s Office or some kind of a defense team to look at evidence and reports, to make sure that this is not happening to others.”
“… Just so we’re clear: I don’t blame the district attorney’s office. They were sold this bag of crap. It’s not their fault that the sheriff’s department was dishonest with them in presenting this case, and didn’t give them all the accurate information. … I understand that they have a job to do. Still … you have to do the right thing.”
Seems to be a lot of corruption in all areas of our government. It’s sad how it can destroy people’s lives and how easy it is for it to happen. I hope all goes well in the trial for Mr. Flores. Thank you Kevin for writing this article. I hope you will give us an update when the trial is over.
This is the regular procceding that regular people goes through. Deputies charge suspects and their fate is decided in court. This is no different. Just because he Mr. Flores was in law enforcement, it does not mean that he should be treated differently. I see entitlement here. He has to think about the suspects that he brought to justice on a suspicion with merits or not that had detrimental effects on their lives. This is no different. Mr Flores should know that he no superior to any other person that is charged with a crime. From the article I see no sculpatory evidence. Mr. Flores needs to let the court proceed as any other suspect would do. Other members of society can’t cut corner like Mr. Flores intends. Mr. Flores is not in law enforcement any more so he should stop feeling of entiment as he’s no different as another suspected criminal.
It reminds me of another case where a CHP officer was caught fencing with a tow company a long time ago. Mr.Flores was cat fished in some way,And when your officer of public service you have to be careful on and off duty with the people you deal with. But I hope and pray for him that he will win his case and be exonerated and Mr. Bianco is a sneaky and corrupt Leader.
That’s how Riverside is ..I was on patrol until 2012 when 3 off duty chippies said I pointed my weapon at them. I went to court beat it and still was released. They had video footage of me walking into the station with No Weapon. They harassed my family..and lied on me so bad (this so called det. Linton) He knows he lied and one of the chippies lied and said on the stand that he said “gun gun gun” to the other 2 that were in the car. That was never in the report..not on the recorded Interview and the other 2 chippies said he ever said that. When I was acquitted got in the elevator to leave and Linton went to stop In the elevator with me and my attorney and he was afraid to step In..so I told him…”you can get in im.not gonna hurt you”..but he stayed I that coroner..yeah I’m not the smallest black guy..lol