The Monterey man who evaded police by hiding under his house is sentenced to prison time.

Defiant and stubborn.

Those were the two words used to describe convicted felon Leslie Flores during his sentencing in Monterey County Superior Court on Wednesday, Dec. 4. Two words that led him to a prison sentence instead of release to the drug rehabilitation program he and his family were asking of Judge Andrew Liu.

Defiant was how Deputy District Attorney Christopher Puck described Flores, who pleaded no contest to a number of felony and misdemeanor charges on Oct 18, including assault, weapon possession, evading arrest and others stemming from incidents that began in 2022.

“This willful defiance is not new for the last two years,” Puck said. He pointed to nearly two decades of arrests and other situations where Flores ignored or disobeyed laws—including failing to maintain a Monterey apartment complex he owns, now in receivership with the city—in addition to lying to the court about attending drug rehabilitation on two occasions.

Flores also ignored laws and court orders in regards to dogs he owned that were known to run loose in his Monte Vista neighborhood in Monterey attacking other dogs and menacing people. Two of his dogs attacked a woman and her toy poodle, injuring the woman and killing the poodle. The incidents occurring over a decade had neighbors on edge.

Flores’ attorney, Lawrence Biegel, said Flores is “very, very stubborn,” adding later that he had “fought a battle with Mr. Flores on whether he has a commitment to rehabilitation.” Flores’ behavior “was caused by drugs. I’m not saying it as an excuse, it’s the truth,” Biegel said, adding that drug treatment would be more beneficial than prison. “I want him to come back better than he was.”

Flores’ family, represented by a niece of Flores’ who addressed Liu, acknowledged in a statement that Flores had ignored their pleas to get help. In 2022 they gave him an ultimatum to go to treatment or be banned from family gatherings. He refused to enter rehab.

“He’s not who he once was. He’s lost his way and he needs help,” she said. Several members of the family filled a bench inside the courtroom on Wednesday, in a show of support.

A few neighbors of Flores' home in the Monte Vista neighborhood were also in attendance at the sentencing, as were Monterey Police Chief Dave Hober and another officer. Hober wrote to the court ahead of the sentencing outlining 48 different interactions with Flores over two decades. He said there were 120 documented MPD contacts with Flores.

With a shackled Flores in red and white striped jail clothes sitting next to him at the defense table, Biegel asked that Liu send Flores to prison for 90 days on an evaluation, in the hopes that seeing the inside of a state prison “will force him into a posture of rehabilitation.”

Liu was not moved by their appeals. Defiant and stubborn were fitting words, he said.

“Mr. Flores has shown a pattern of not listening to those who want to help him,” Liu said.

Liu pointed out that after the family cut Flores off, he didn’t reach out to them for help until he was sitting in jail, after his arrest in July.

The arrest followed a multiple-hour police standoff at Flores’ Monterey home. Police found Flores hiding in a six-foot hole under his house and had to use a chainsaw to extricate him. Liu called it “as serious a resisting arrest as this court has ever seen.”

Flores didn’t listen to his family or his multiple attorneys, Liu said, nor did he go to a drug rehabilitation program in January as he promised he would.

“Today you’re asking for a program. You have to be willing to listen, to follow the rules and accept personal responsibility for what you’ve done,” Liu said, adding that he saw no indication that Flores was willing to do any of it.

Liu denied the request for probation and sentenced Flores to a total of eight years and four months in prison, two of those in jail. He has the right to appeal the sentence.

Puck calls Liu's sentence a “pretty extraordinary result” for a case that involved nonviolent offenses. The reality, he says, is that if Flores behaves himself in prison, attends classes or takes advantage of other programs while there, he could be out in a couple of years. 

Neighbors say they are looking forward to some peace in the neighborhood, but worry what will happen when Flores is released from prison.