Convicted Pedophile Sentenced to 350 Years Eligible for Release under California’s Elderly Parole Program

Nearly two decades after he was sentenced to 350 years in prison for kidnapping and molesting a five-year-old girl, Charles William Mix, 69, may be eligible for parole under California’s Elderly Parole Program.

Mix was convicted in 2003 for abducting and molesting his roommate’s daughter. Charged when he was 49, Mix is now eligible for parole under the California program, which refers to the state’s board of parole hearings inmates who are above 50 years old, and have been incarcerated for 20 years.

Although Mix’s victim, now 27, does not discuss the assault publicly, her family has spoken with media to try and convince California officials to keep Mix in prison.

“The legislators all want to talk about how terrible life sentences are for this criminal, these types of criminals, I don’t think they’re actually looking at life sentences of the victims who didn’t have a choice in this,” the victim’s sister, Claira Stansbury said. “I absolutely think that he would offend again, whether it be going to find my sister or another innocent child.”

The Riverside County District Attorney’s Office originally apprehended Mix and lamented in a statement the state’s willingness “to put victims and their families through further trauma, forcing them to fight for the sentences that have already been handed down by a court of law.”

Critics say that California’s law, which went into effect in January 2021, allows criminals to re-terrorize communities; the state views the program as a way to address overcrowding and budgetary restrictions in the prison system. It costs California two to three times more to house elderly inmates than their younger peers.

California’s Legislative Analyst’s Office has often recommended “early discharge to parole for non-violent and nonserious inmates over the age of 55,” because “research indicates that many of these older inmates represent a relatively low risk of reoffending and show high rates of parole success.” But Mix isn’t the first elderly individual convicted of sex crimes to be considered for parole.

The State Board of Parole Hearings recommended convicted rapist Cody Woodsen Klemp, 68, for parole under the Elderly Parole Program in 2023. Klemp was convicted in 1994 on ten counts of rape, ten counts of oral copulation on a child, and 20 counts of committing lewd acts on a child. Because he was over 50, and had served 20 years of his 170-year prison sentence, the state approved his early release. However, following community outrage, the board rescinded its decision, and announced that Klemp would remain in prison, “for now.”

“He will absolutely rape again. He has been committing rapes since he was 18 years old. The only time he did not rape was when he was in prison,” one of Klemp’s victims told the district attorney’s office.

Kenneth Bogard, 66, was another inmate considered for “elderly parole” this year. Known as the Pacific Beach rapist, Bogard was sentenced to 96 years in prison on 37 counts of burglary, assault, sexual battery, forced oral copulation, rape, and more. Bogard was 36 years old when apprehended. The predator would wear a ski mask and threaten victims with a knife before sexually assaulting them, and tucking them into bed.

“The Elder Parole law that allows for early release of murderers and rapists is cruel to crime victims and is rigged to only benefit violent criminals,” San Diego County district attorney Summer Stephan said. “Our Lifer Unit will never abandon victims and we will continue to stand by them in these early parole hearings, vowing to fight releases when warranted, as we are in this serial rape case.”

Sixty-three-year-old rapist Javier Woolrich was also made eligible for release under the law this year. Woolrich was found guilty in 2003 of kidnapping with the intent to rape, kidnapping, rape, and assault. Although the parole board denied Woolrich parole, Kern County District Attorney Cynthia Zimmer said that “someone who caused drastic damage and has only served a fraction of their sentence should never have the opportunity of freedom.”

Randal Gers, 60, was yet another rapist made eligible for, and denied, parole. Gers received 567 years-to-life in prison for kidnapping, repeatedly raping, and sodomizing, two women, on separate occasions, in 1995. He had previously been convicted for raping a 12-year-old. Gers would next have been eligible for parole in November 2378 if not for California’s elderly parole law.

“The denial of parole is an excellent example of the work the DA’s Lifer Hearing Unit does to represent the voice of the crime victims. We’re increasingly seeing inmates being released under the Elderly Parole Program and when the facts and the law support us as in this case, we fight against these unsafe and unjust releases,” DA Stephan said.