Pasco councilman charged with child molestation

Pasco’s newest City Council member has been charged with two counts of first degree child molestation, said Franklin County Prosecutor Shawn Sant.

Chi Flores is accused of inappropriate contact twice in his family home with an elementary-school-aged child who does not live there.

He has been summoned to appear in Franklin County Superior Court on the charges.

He earlier was ordered to have no contact with the child for five months, according to a temporary sexual assault protection order signed by a Franklin County Superior Court judge.

Janell Waters, a Northwest Justice Project attorney, filed a petition April 12 for the protection order for the girl and her parents.

The girl's older brother reportedly told his father in late March that his sister claimed Flores "had touched her in an inappropriate place, " the petition said. The girl alleged that both times she had been at Flores' home.

The petition said the girl had only been to the house once since last summer because she claimed Flores became mad and scared her.

The parents said since Flores lives in their neighborhood and they've gone to the police, they're "worried that he might try and talk to her about what happened, or maybe even threaten her."

The protection order file includes a declaration from Detective Chris Caicedo, who said an alleged sex crime was reported March 30 to the department.

Richland attorney Scott Johnson said before the charges were filed that there was no truth to the allegations.

"The timeline doesn't make sense. The specifics of the allegations don't make sense. Other witnesses that were in the room at the time of the allegations say that the allegations did not happen, " Johnson said.

"We have very serious, serious questions about the motivation to make this report, especially in light of the fact that there just is no credible evidence, " Johnson said. "In fact, there is no evidence at all and there is credible evidence that nothing happened."

Flores, who moved to Pasco about four years ago, was appointed to the City Council in October to replace the late councilman Mike Garrison, and sworn in Nov. 7. He was unanimously selected by the rest of the council from five finalists, and is the second sitting Latino member.

Flores represents District 4, which extends from Convention Drive west to Broadmoor Boulevard and Road 100, and crosses over Interstate 182 from Argent Road on the south to the northern city limits.

Flores has filed to retain his seat in the Nov. 7 election and has five challengers — Roberto (RJ) Garcia, Pete Serrano, Dan Hatch, Trevor Sall and Abel Campos.

This story was originally published May 27, 2017 at 3:41 PM with the headline "Pasco councilman charged with child molestation."