<p>Sex Offender Denied Elder Parole after Hearing </p>

California state prison Inmate Kelly Mclaughlin-Cross (60 years old, formerly of Sonoma County) was denied “Elder Parole” by the State Board of Parole Commissioners during a Tuesday afternoon hearing. Commissioners Ground and Lam ruled that McLaughlin-Cross would not be eligible to reapply for parole for an additional 5 years. At the end of the hearing the commissioners directed the inmate to complete sex offender treatment, seek further insight into what caused her to perpetrate her crimes, and to work on her accountability.

District Attorney Jill Ravitch stated, “These crimes were shocking and horrible. We are pleased that the Board made the right decision in denying parole for this offender.”

The crimes that resulted in the inmate’s incarceration occurred over a 9-month period during which the inmate and her co-defendants Thomas Plimmer and Dallas Goosen committed multiple sexual acts on three children, then aged 6, 5, and 4 years old. In addition to sexually assaulting the children, the defendants also routinely filmed the acts. Upon their arrest, an additional 12-week-old child was found in squalid conditions.

Mclaughlin-Cross was ultimately convicted of committing 59 acts of child sex assault and was sentenced to serve 162 years in prison. The victims in the case, now adults, testified at the hearing in opposition to the inmate receiving parole.

Inmate Plimmer ultimately died in prison, and Inmate Goosen was recently denied parole and advised not to reapply for 5 years.
The underlying case was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Kenneth Gnoss in the early 1990s. Deputy District Attorney Jenica Leonard appeared for the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office at the parole hearing. Victim-Witness Advocate Olivia Carbajal provided support for the victims at the hearing.