Today, Raul Flores, of Cutler was sentenced to eighteen years in state prison for the crime committed on September 17, 2005. Raul Flores shot at a Tulare County Sheriff’s Deputy in the Cutler area as he ran through yards in an attempt to get away from the officer. The defendant was found hiding in the shower of a residence. The occupants of the house did not know him, and alerted deputies to the fact that he was hiding there.

Flores, 28 years old, pled no contest to a felony violation of Penal Code section 245(d), assault with a firearm on a peace officer, with a special allegation for personal use of a firearm under Penal Code section 12022.53(b) and a special allegation for having suffered a prior strike for a 2001 conviction in violation of Penal Code section 246, shooting at a house.

Judge James Hollman, sentenced Flores to serve 18 years in state prison for his crime. He will also have to pay a restitution fine in the amount of $3600. He will have to provide samples of his blood, saliva, and thumb and palm prints pursuant to Penal Code section 296. Flores’s plea will count as a “strike” under California law, and in the future, if he commits other felonies, his sentence could be twenty five years to life. Flores will have to serve eighty five percent of his sentence before being paroled.

The case was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Ralph Kaelble of the District Attorney’s Office Major Crimes Division and investigated by Detective Gary Hunt of the Tulare County Sheriff’s Department.

Contact Person: Assistant District Attorney Carol Turner, 733-6411.