Stockton Man Sentenced to Life in Prison for Long-Term Sexual Abuse of Minors Including His Own Children

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Rodney Flucas, 50, of Stockton, was sentenced today to life in prison for transportation of minors with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, 10 years in prison for transporting an adult daughter across state lines with intent to engage in incest and 20 years in prison for attempted witness tampering, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced. U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller ordered the sentences to be served consecutively.

U.S. Attorney Scott stated: “The defendant’s conduct is an affront to the most fundamental values of our society and family structures. He repeatedly preyed upon his own children, taking advantage of their innocence and the trust they had in him. The defendant has demonstrated that he will never stop preying upon vulnerable victims, and today’s sentence will help to ensure that he does not repeat these crimes in the future.”

“No sentence can ever erase the pain that the victims have endured as a result of years of abuse and reliving those experiences during their courageous testimony in court,” said Special Agent in Charge Sean Ragan of the Sacramento Field Office. “We hope today’s sentence offers some solace to the victims and encourages those who are enduring similar, unreported circumstances to seek help from law enforcement. The FBI stands with our federal, state, and local partners to investigate these crime to ensure those who exploit our community’s vulnerable, innocent children face justice.”

According to court documents and evidence produced at trial, Flucas engaged in long‑term, concurrent sexual abuse of four of his daughters, a son, and two other young women, all of whom were minors when Flucas began abusing them. The abuse came to light in February 2017 when one of his teenaged daughters tried to commit suicide by driving into a lamppost, in the hope that her death would lead to the discovery of the abuse. She was transported to the hospital where she disclosed the abuse to authorities. From that point, at least six other victims have disclosed sexual abuse that Flucas inflicted on them since they were children. They made such disclosures despite Flucas’s aggressive campaign to undermine the credibility of his victims and his attempts to direct his victims to lie to child protection authorities and the police. Ultimately, however, Flucas’s victims disclosed their abuse notwithstanding the family mantra: “What happens in the family, stays in the family.” DNA testing confirmed that Flucas is the father of 10 children born to victims who testified in this case, including three children born to one of Flucas’s daughters. Flucas has admitted to fathering at least 37 children by numerous women.

According to evidence produced at trial and during sentencing, Flucas began abusing five of his victims when the family lived in Valdosta, Georgia around the year 2000. He owned or rented upward of four houses on the same street in Valdosta where his wife, ex-wife, other partners and numerous children lived. In 2014, the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services began to investigate allegations of child abuse, made by a grandmother of four of Flucas’s children, including allegations that Flucas had impregnated two of his daughters. They closed its investigation, and Flucas moved his family to Americus, Georgia, where he continued to sexually abuse some of his children.

By September 2014, Flucas had again moved the family, including four of his victims, this time to Klamath Falls, Oregon. Once in Oregon, Flucas also began sexually abusing a 15‑year-old girl, who had befriended Flucas’s daughter at school. Flucas invited that girl to move into his home, and he eventually impregnated her when she was 16. He also impregnated an adult daughter for the third time in Oregon. Flucas continued his abuse of his victims throughout their entire time in Oregon.

After more allegations arose in Oregon in 2015, Flucas moved his victims, including the then-pregnant friend of his daughter, to Stockton, where he found employment as a teacher of the deaf and hard of hearing. Flucas continued to sexually abuse his victims in California until the car crash that brought the allegations to light. Evidence at trial showed Flucas kept his abuse secret by abusing his victims behind the locked doors of his bedroom and bedroom closet and by waking his victims in the middle of the night to abuse them while the rest of the family slept.

Evidence at trial also demonstrated that on the heels of his daughter’s disclosure to police in Stockton, Flucas began searching the internet for places to move overseas, including China, Kenya, Ethiopia, Canada, Panama, and Nepal. He also searched for the U.S. dollar to Mexican peso conversion rate. Flucas also told two of his victims that he intended to take them someplace where he could continue the abuse, including places where Flucas believed incest to be legal such as New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Switzerland.

This case was the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, originating from an investigation by the Stockton Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeremy J. Kelley prosecuted the case.