EAGLE, Colo. – Jesse Robert Flores, age 21, of Gypsum, was sentenced today to seven and a half years in the Colorado Department of Corrections for 12 felony charges stemming from his involvement in both Eagle and Lake County cases.

The sentencing today included the following: multiple counts of Aggravated Motor Vehicle Theft and Fraud by Check, felony forgery and a misdemeanor count of cybercrime.

Flores was defrauding multiple people and businesses in Grand, Chaffee, Summit, Routt, Mesa, Lake and Eagle Counties. The District Attorney’s Office was able to tie each of the charges involving aggravated motor vehicle theft to some type of activity by Flores in Eagle County.

Motor vehicle theft is a crime that can be charged in any jurisdiction where the vehicle was stolen, where it was sold or any county the vehicle was driven through between.

“Any crime we could connect to Eagle County, we included into an Eagle County case. Because there was a nexus between stolen vehicles in other counties and Mr. Flores’ actions in Eagle County, we were able to include those charges,” said District Attorney Heidi McCollum. “It made more sense to prosecute multiple crimes by one person in one court, as opposed to prosecuting one person in multiple courts across the state,” McCollum added.

Although not part of the Eagle or Lake County cases because a connection could not be proven, Flores also defrauded businesses and individuals in both Garfield and Adams Counties. He has pled
guilty in those cases as well, and his sentencings will occur on Tuesday, Feb. 15, and Tuesday, March 8.

Victims’ stories include Flores purchasing cars and ATVs/UTVs by writing checks in order to purchase the vehicles, however none of the checks had sufficient funds to cover them. The total amount of fraudulent checks written in all of his cases exceeded $750,000.

Flores would then either write subsequent checks claiming that some mix up at the bank had occurred, or he would entice the seller to allow him to set up a wire transfer. No wire transfers were ever made for payment on any of the vehicles. When victims again would try to cash the checks, they bounced. When victims were promised funds through wire transfers, they simply continued to wait, as no money ever reached them.

When confronted by the sellers about the insufficient funds in Flores’ account, he would give excuses
and always promise to make it right.

Heidi McCollum, 5th Judicial District Attorney, said, “His behavior has been consistent, in that he tells lie after lie…story after story. Nothing he says can be relied on, and he is a con. Jesse Flores will now spend
several years in prison for his despicable actions to dozens of hard working people across this state, and I hope we have brought some justice to these many victims.”

Flores was ordered to pay over $100,000 in restitution to many of his victims as part of his guilty pleas.