Long prison sentence for Richland armed carjacking of a Good Samaritan

A Tri-Cities man who pulled a gun on a Richland man who had been trying to help him and then totaled the good Samaritan’s pickup was sentenced Thursday to 15 years in federal prison.

Hector D. Flores, who already had a long criminal history, pleaded guilty in federal court to carjacking, brandishing a gun in commission of a violent crime and being a felon with firearms.

“The amount of danger this defendant created cannot be understated,” said Brandon Pang, assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern Washington District, in a federal court document.

Law enforcement was looking for Flores, then 28, on June 10, 2025, a few days after he slammed his car into three Benton County patrol cars in early June and fled. He was accused of attempting to elude, third-degree assault of a law enforcement officer and hit-and-run involving an unattended vehicle.

Benton County Sheriff detectives spotted him in a black Chevrolet Malibu and set up containment spikes at the intersection of Tanglewood Drive and Duportail Street in Richland, according to court documents.

But Flores drove through the spikes and sped away, despite his deflated tires. He got as far as the Hills Mobile Home Park at 250 Skyline Drive in Richland before abandoning the car.

There he approached a man in his yard and told me he had fought with his girlfriend and needed a ride to Pasco.

The resident agreed. But as the man drove his pickup north out of the mobile home park, Flores saw two police vehicles. He told the driver to, “Go, go, go.”

“I’m not running from the cops, man,” the driver said.

Flores reached into his backpack and pulled out a pistol and pointed it at the driver, according to court documents. The driver panicked and grabbed Flores’ arm, pushing the gun away.

During the struggle the pickup stopped, and the driver jumped out, yelling at police that Flores had a gun.

Flores moved into the driver’s seat and took off, with police in pursuit at speeds that reached 90 mph and with Flores driving into oncoming traffic, according to court documents.

Flores finally was stopped with a PIT, or pursuit intervention technique, a law enforcement maneuver using a police car to hit the pickup and force it to stop as it spun out near the intersection of Duportail Street and Wellsian Way in Richland.

3 guns in carjacked pickup

Police found a .45 caliber handgun in the pickup and black bags owned by Flores that held a revolver and handgun, small scales, more than $1,000 in cash, 32 grams of methamphetamine and 62 grams of fentanyl.

One of the guns was stolen, according to court documents.

Pang called Flores’s criminal history “extensive and alarming” and said it showed a continuing disregard for the law, the property of others and the safety of others.

Among his past convictions were crimes of attempting to elude, malicious harassment, assault, unlawful possession of a gun, shoplifting, burglary, second-degree theft, first degree trafficking stolen property and vehicle prowling.

The prosecution acknowledged that Flores had a difficult past, with a mother who locked her children in a closet for long periods without food or water while she made money as a sex worker or she was partying, court documents alleged. He also has a history of using meth and fentanyl, according to court documents.

But those difficulties cannot explain or excuse his continuous course of criminal conduct, according to Pang.

“I made the biggest mistake in my life and I cannot apologize enough,” Flores said in a letter to U.S. Judge Mary Dimke. “I put so many lives in danger, and I’m sorry. There is no excuse.”

The prosecution recommended a prison sentence of 15 years, as ordered by the judge. The defense asked for a sentence of 13 years and five months.

Flores was ordered to pay $5,000 in restitution and sentenced to three years probation after his prison term.