Yair Flores
FRESNO – Deputies arrested a man they say targeted a 21-year-old woman, forced her into his truck and then drove her out to an orchard and raped her.
Fresno County Sheriff’s deputies arrested 24-year-old Yair Fores of Parlier. He has been booked into the Fresno County Jail and faces felony charges of kidnapping and rape.
The incident happened on Wednesday at around 6:30 p.m. on McKinley Avenue near West Avenue. The woman was walking along McKinley Ave. when Flores drove beside her in his truck and pointed a handgun at her, demanding that she get in the vehicle, the sheriff’s department said.
After the woman got inside, the suspect drove her four miles away to an orchard on Blythe Ave, just south of Belmont Ave., where he parked and then sexually assaulted her inside his truck, authorities said.
Flores then allegedly told the woman to get out of his truck and he drove away. The woman walked to a nearby packing shed and an employee called the sheriff’s department after hearing her story, authorities said.
Deputies and detectives followed leads late into the night and into the early morning hours, and developed a lead that the suspect’s vehicle was parked at a home in Selma. Deputies discovered the truck there, but Flores was not inside.
From there, the deputies discovered that Flores was in an apartment in Parlier. The deputies made contact with Flores at the apartment and arrested him without incident. They also discovered a handgun believed to be used in the crime, the sheriff’s department said.
Although this was initially believed to be a random act, the sheriff’s department said that “through the course of interviews with the suspect and victim, detectives have determined the victim was targeted.”
