Police say woman traded for heroin

Rape suspect reportedly considered teen his 'property'

Jason Auslander | The New Mexican

4/2/2008 - 4/3/08

A Santa Fe man is accused of kidnapping and raping a 19-year-old Española woman he thought was his "property" after her brother traded her for heroin last fall, police said Wednesday.

Herman Flores Jr., 24, apparently considered the woman his permanent possession and wanted her to bear his children, Española Police Detective Christian Lopez said.

"It is bizarre," Lopez said. "I've not heard of this happening before."

The woman's boyfriend called Española police about 5:15 a.m. Friday to report his girlfriend sent him text messages earlier that morning indicating she was being taken against her will and might be killed, according to a police report. The boyfriend had gone to his girlfriend's apartment in Española and found the residence "thrashed," Lopez said.

Española police discovered the woman was with Flores and tracked him to his grandmother's home in La Cienega, where Santa Fe County deputies found the woman lying in bed with him, the report states. Both were taken back to Española and interviewed.

The woman told Lopez she first met Flores in September when her older brother "was in dire need of narcotics," the police report states.

"As (the brother) obtained narcotics from Herman, (the brother) was unable to pay for the drugs so he told Herman that Herman could have (his sister) and 'do whatever he wanted with her' because she was his property now," Lopez wrote in his report. "(The woman) stated that it was not the first time (her brother) traded her for drugs but (he'd) never (given) full custody to any other person. The other times she would have to go with the males that he would trade her to and then she would be released."

Lopez said the woman would have to have sex most of the time with the drug dealer to pay off her brother's heroin debt. "He was basically pimping her out," he said.

However, Flores apparently saw the deal differently from the other dealers, Lopez said.

The woman told police she could not flee from Flores after her brother gave her to him "and was told on numerous occasions that she was going to (bear) his children because she was now Herman's," the report says. Lopez said the woman, who was not a heroin addict but was homeless at the time, may also have stayed because she had shelter and members of Flores' family "weren't treating her bad."

However, in October, Flores was arrested on outstanding warrants and imprisoned at the Santa Fe County jail, the police report states. The woman said she was forced to stay with Flores' father and his father's girlfriend at that time, though she managed to "escape" not long after, the report says.

Flores' family did not try to come after the woman, and the woman stayed in touch with Flores until December, Lopez said. At that time, she wrote Flores a letter saying she couldn't be with him anymore, and he supposedly agreed, Lopez said.

The woman then met the boyfriend, and the two were "having a wonderful relationship up until Thursday night," when Flores began sending her text messages, Lopez said. Flores told the woman he wanted a jacket back, then showed up at her door at 1:30 a.m. and forced his way inside, the report says. With his father and an unidentified blond woman with him, Flores tried to grab the woman and demanded she come with him, according to the police report.

"Herman told (the woman) that she was coming with him and his family because 'she belonged to him' and was his 'property,' " the report states.

The woman ran from Flores, locked herself in a bathroom and tried to call her boyfriend, who was in Chimayó and out of cell-phone range, Lopez said. The woman left her boyfriend voice messages, text messages and two notes she stashed at her apartment, the report says. Flores and the others packed up the woman's belongings, then took her with them after she voluntarily came out of the bathroom, Lopez said.

The woman told police Flores threatened to kill her if she tried to flee or call police, the report says. The group drove to Flores' grandmother's house in La Cienega, where Flores' father and the blond woman forced the 19-year-old woman to stay in the car, the report says. Flores then raped her inside the vehicle, according to the report.

Lopez said the woman grew up in Española and graduated from high school. "She's a pretty smart girl," he said. She was adopted by foster parents but later re-established contact with her biological brother, who traded her for heroin, he said.

Flores was charged in Santa Fe County Magistrate Court with criminal sexual penetration. He was charged in Rio Arriba County Magistrate Court with kidnapping, aggravated burglary and threatening or intimidating a witness. The District Attorney's Office will decide whether to charge anyone else in the case, Lopez said.

Flores pleaded guilty to aggravated fleeing from police and driving while intoxicated in state District Court in Deming in December, according to online court records.

Gov. Bill Richardson in February signed a bill making human trafficking a felony, but that law doesn't go into effect until July 1. District Attorney Henry Valdez confirmed Wednesday that the new law can't be a factor in this case, and no other state statute outlawing such activity exists.

Contact Jason Auslander at 986-3076 or jauslander@sfnewmexican.com.