Monterey property owner maneuvers to delay sale of his blighted property from prison.

The 11-unit apartment complex at 359 Larkin St. built in 1932 could be a beautiful vintage showpiece of Oldtown Monterey. Instead it’s a dilapidated property with crumbling rooftops, boarded-up windows and a once-manicured landscape choked with weeds. The buildings have languished for over a year as a fight unfolds in court, with a receiver wanting to sell the property “as is” to someone who will rehabilitate it and the owner apparently delaying any sale from prison.

The owner is Leslie Flores Jr., 59, the man who committed crime after crime before he was captured in dramatic style by law enforcement from a hiding spot under his Monterey home last July. In November he was sentenced to eight years and four months in prison after pleading no contest to a weapon possession charge, evading police, assault, drug charges and others.

Earlier in 2024, as police were searching for Flores after he failed to appear in court in February, the City of Monterey asked a judge to appoint a receiver for 359 Larkin. City officials had been trying to get Flores to make fixes to apartments plagued by mold, lack of heat and other problems, to no avail. Richardson C. Griswold was appointed as receiver in March 2024, with the goal of making the apartments livable again.

Last fall Griswold concluded the most cost-effective solution was to sell the property “as is.” The city would be repaid for its costs by the receiver and the property would hopefully be rehabilitated. He asked a judge for permission to sell it in December.

Flores entered the Sierra Conservation Center in Tuolumne County on Jan. 19. On that same day, in the Monterey County Recorder’s Office, a representative of Flores filed a deed for Larkin, transferring it from Flores’ trust to a Monterey company called 43034 LLC, owned by Flores’ trust. Two months later, the attorney representing the company, Thornton Louis Davidson of Fresno, contacted the city claiming 43034 LLC is the title owner.

“To date, the City has been unable to ascertain that title was validly transferred via the grant deed,” states a status report filed on April 17 with the court by the Monterey City Attorney’s Office.

Bank officials share that concern. Catherine Whittle Delorey is an attorney for Washington Federal Bank, which holds the mortgage on the property. She told Monterey County Superior Court Judge Ian A. Rivamonte on April 25 that the bank was not consulted about a transfer, thereby making it invalid.

Davidson was asking for a 60-day delay on the matter but the city, receiver and bank were against it. They told the judge they would agree to two weeks. Davidson then offered a 45-day continuance, which Rivamonte granted, wanting to give the parties time to discuss details further outside of the courtroom.

Another status conference is scheduled for June 27. Flores will be eligible for parole in October 2026.