A security guard already facing kidnapping and other charges stemming from an alleged attack on a woman in Compton was charged today with three other alleged attacks dating back as far as 2014.
Ferdinand Flowers, 35, of Long Beach, pleaded not guilty to two counts each of forcible oral copulation and assault with intent to commit a felony and one count each of kidnapping to commit another crime and second-degree robbery, along with gun use allegations.
Flowers—who has a prior conviction for solicitation of a prostitute in 2010—is suspected of gunpoint attacks on as many as 14 sex trade workers in 13 alleged attacks in the South Los Angeles area over the past four years, authorities said in January.
Flowers was initially charged with a Jan. 12 attack on a 19-year-old woman, with the latest counts stemming from alleged attacks on three other women in January 2014, April 2017 and October 2017.
The women named as victims in the newest charges were picked up in Los Angeles and allegedly attacked in Rancho Dominguez, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Detectives conducting surveillance of the area arrested Flowers at about 1:30 a.m. Jan. 12 after the 19-year-old woman got out of his car in an area where he is suspected of releasing other alleged victims, according to Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Justin Eisenberg.
Flowers allegedly pulled a gun and demanded the woman’s money after approaching her in Lynwood and driving her to Compton, authorities said.
Flowers, who had a registered handgun he likely used for work as a licensed security guard, allegedly used two vehicles during the assaults—a black Dodge pickup truck with an extended cab and a white Honda Civic.
Both vehicles and his home were searched and a handgun was recovered, police said.
Flowers—who remains jailed—is due back at the Compton courthouse March 28, when a date is scheduled to be set for a hearing to determine if there is enough evidence to require him to stand trial.
If convicted as charged, he could face a maximum of life in state prison and lifetime sex offender registration, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
