No. 1 Thing NOT To Do If You Plan To Escape Police Custody
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| Sergio Flores |
But apparently nobody shared that elementary criminal tidbit with Sergio Ramirez Flores.
According to Orange County court records, a handcuffed Flores gave his arresting police officer accurate personal identifying information before he was locked in a patrol car in April 2008.
His crime: Possession of 715 milligrams of methamphetamine outside the El Hidalgo Bar in downtown Santa Ana.
At some point while the office wasn't paying attention, a 30-year-old Flores kicked out a rear passenger window and successfully escaped.
Given that the cops knew where Flores lived, it didn't take long to find him.
But, in a desperate attempt to avoid prosecution, Flores and his family concocted an alibi: he couldn't have committed the crime because he was at a birthday party hundreds of miles away near the U.S.-Mexico border.
They also accused the arresting cop, Brandon Sontag, of fabricating his contact with Flores.
A jury didn't buy it and Superior Court Judge Carla M. Singer sentenced him to serve two years in prison.
This week, a California Court of Appeal considered Flores' cries of innocence.
In a four-page ruling, the appellate justice quickly dismissed his argument and determined that the prosecution had been righteous.
Now, Flores must be kicking himself.
--R. Scott Moxley / OC Weekly
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