Oregon sex offender gets lighter sentence in girl’s rape after lead investigator fatally shot

An Oregon sex offender pleaded guilty to lesser charges after the lead investigator in a child rape case was shot and killed in the line of duty.

Ronald Flores was accused of raping an 11-year-old fifth-grader -- who remained quiet about the abuse for four years, when she revealed the sexual assault to a caseworker, reported KOIN-TV.

The 50-year-old Flores was charged in April 2015 with two felony counts each of first-degree sodomy and first-degree sex abuse.

But the case fell apart after Sgt. Jason Goodding, of Seaside police, was fatally shot in February by a wanted felon who had been arrested 41 times in 25 years.

Goodding took statements from Flores and attended every court hearing with the victim, now 16, who considered the officer her champion.

“I felt like, you know, finally there is going to be people who think that this matters and that what happened to me mattered,” the girl said.

Prosecutors were unable to pursue felony charges after Goodding was killed because Flores would not have been able to confront his accuser -- which, in this case, was the lead investigator.

Flores instead agreed to plead guilty to a Class A misdemeanor that's the equivalent to sexual assault.

He now faces a much lighter sentence than the 6-to-9-year term that could have been imposed if he was convicted on felony charges.

Watch this video report posted online by KOIN-TV: