Man Sentenced To 23 Years For Involvement In Murder

A 19-year-old Spokane man who was an accomplice in the stabbing death of a South Hill woman in 1998 will serve at least 20 years in prison.

Ruben Flores, who pleaded guilty last month to the felony murder of 54-year-old Glenna Schaldach, was sentenced to 23 years in prison Monday.

State law requires he spend at least 20 years in prison before qualifying for good-time release.

Flores told police he helped a friend, Steven W. Brown, 19, break into Schaldach’s home on April 10, 1998, to steal belongings and money.

Once Flores and Brown were inside, Schaldach confronted them. Brown forced the woman into a closet where she was stabbed more than 100 times with a knife, court records show.

Schaldach’s body was found a few days after the murder at her home in the 1500 block of West Ninth.

Flores denied killing Schaldach, telling police he may have stabbed her body one time in the closet through a blanket after she was dead.

Rather than face a trial on the charge of aggravated murder, Flores pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of felony murder.

Brown pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in June and was sentenced to 50 years in prison. He received an exceptional sentence by Judge Michael Donohue because of the brutality of the crime.

Chief Deputy Criminal Prosecutor Jack Driscoll said Flores was a willing participant in the burglary and murder. He “had no moral compunctions about this crime two weeks after when he pawned items and got money from the crime,” Driscoll said.

Friends and relatives of Flores attending the hearing Monday asked Donohue to impose a lenient sentence on Flores.

“This is a young man who has no criminal record, and who has never even had a traffic ticket,” said defense attorney Maryann Moreno.

Kirsten Flores, Ruben’s mother, appealed to Judge Donohue, saying, “Ruben is not a murderer. I don’t see how he can pay a murderer’s price.”

But Donohue pointed out that Ruben Flores had pleaded guilty to felony murder - the crime of killing someone while committing another crime.

“Your participation in the crime is clearly less (than Brown’s),” Donohue told Flores. “But you had the freedom to choose not being there or stopping it.

“You made the wrong choices,” said Donohue.

Flores committed the crime two weeks before graduating from high school. He received his diploma after taking classes in Spokane County Jail.

Schaldach, an accountant, had been known for her efforts to help troubled teens. She had allowed Brown to stay in her apartment after he left home and needed a place to stay.

Her goal, said her brother, Jack Aldrich, was to start a ranch north of town to help teens in trouble.

“She ended up slain by the ones she would have helped,” he said.