3 charged in ABQ kidnapping, torture case
Jun. 14—Three men are accused of luring another man to a Northeast Albuquerque apartment, tying him up and torturing him for his bank card numbers late last month.
Malik Baker, 25, Bryan Flores, 21, and Eric Flores, 25, are each charged with kidnapping, robbery, aggravated battery, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, extortion and conspiracy in the May 24 incident.
Baker and Bryan Flores are behind bars at the Metropolitan Detention Center.
Both Eric and Bryan Flores were arrested May 27 after, according to deputies, the pair broke into a home after fleeing deputies in a stolen vehicle.
A judge found no probable cause in the case against Eric Flores, and he was released on his own recognizance in that case. There is a warrant out for his arrest in the kidnapping case.
Asked for comment, Victor Chacon, Bryan Flores' attorney, said that he will ensure his client's constitutional rights are protected.
Prosecutors filed a motion to detain Bryan Flores until trial, saying his actions show he has no "regard for the safety of others."
"Being taped to a chair and tortured for information is something that happens in movies — it should not be happening in real life in our community," the motion says. "No one in our community should have to live in fear of being robbed and tortured the way this victim was."
According to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court:
On May 24, a man with duct tape still around his ankles showed up to a Northeast Albuquerque police station and told officers he had been bound and pistol-whipped for hours by three men he knew in high school.
The man said Baker, an old friend, had been staying with him since May 22 and invited him to a mutual friend's apartment. He told police they went to the apartment of Bryan and Eric Flores at the Mesa Verde apartment complex.
The man said they played video games for a while but he became "increasingly uncomfortable" after seeing several handguns, a shotgun and an AR-15 rifle in the apartment. He told police that when he got up to leave, Eric Flores told him "you aren't going anywhere" and threatened him with a loaded pistol.
The man said he ran for the door but Bryan and Eric Flores grabbed him and knocked him out with the gun. He told police they dragged him to a bedroom, forced him to get undressed and bound him to a chair with duct tape.
The man said he was then beaten and pistol-whipped repeatedly as Bryan and Eric Flores asked for the PIN numbers to his bank cards and Baker watched. He told police that he wouldn't tell them the PIN and, at one point, Bryan Flores burned his hand with a torch.
The man said the three left the room after three hours and he used the opportunity to tear away the duct tape, put on pants and jump out of a window. He led officers to the apartment, and they broke the door down.
Police used a drone to clear the apartment and found no one inside. Officers found three empty gun boxes, a chair, torn duct tape, the man's clothing and torch lighters in a back bedroom.
Officers later discovered that Baker and Bryan and Eric Flores had been documented gang members through junior high and high school.
