LOGAN — A 20-year-old Hyrum woman has been sentenced to one-year in jail for encouraging a 14-year-old girl to have sex with two older men. Eva M. Flores was also ordered to serve a second one-year term for stabbing her boyfriend. Both of the sentences will run concurrently.
Flores was sentenced in 1st District Court Tuesday morning. She previously pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful sexual activity with a minor and one count of domestic violence in the presence of a child, both third-degree felonies.
Flores was arrested in October 2017, when a 14-year-old girl claimed she was raped by two men, Jesus Diaz-Orozco and Lemuel A. Del Valle-Morales. Police later learned that Flores encouraged the victim to have sex with the men.
Later in April 2018 while Flores was out on bail, she and her boyfriend got into an argument while drinking alcohol. She became angry and stabbed the victim while the couple’s two children were watching. The man was treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
During Tuesday’s sentencing, Flores refused to speak to the court. Instead, she had written a letter to the judge, stating she wanted to prove her innocence.
Public defender Shannon Demler said Flores had made some horrible choices and she accepted what she did. He noted that she had no previous criminal history and was trying to raise her children again.
Cache County deputy attorney Barbara Lachmar said Flores’ conduct was concerning. She recommended that the court either send her to prison or jail for a long time.
Judge Brian Cannell asked Flores if she would want her own children to be having sex with older men when they were teenagers. He told the defendant, she should have protected the victim. He later expressed hope that she could change her life. As part of the sentence, he explained he would allow her to be released from jail early, if she was willing to complete an in-house treatment program.
Judge Cannell said, “This is a gift to you to change, instead of sending you to prison.”