Murderer, Child Molester, and Three-Striker Denied Parole

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Sonora, CA – A convict with crimes in three states including murder and child molestation was denied parole for the one committed in Tuolumne County.

70-year-old Eric Richard Eleson was denied parole at a hearing held via videoconference on January 29th. In the 90s he was found guilty of three counts of lewd and lascivious acts on a child under the age of 14 under the Three Strike Rule and sentenced to 85-years-to-life in prison.

The Tuolumne County District Attorney’s office, in a written release, detailed his crime. On Oct. 4, 1994, an eight-year-old girl told her parents that Eleson had molested her and her six-year-old sister twice the night before. Eleson, a family friend and computer repairman, was at the home to fix their computer when the D.A.’s office said he “entered their daughters’ room multiple times and lewdly touched each child.” Eleson was arrested but denied any wrongdoing.

In 2019 Eleson became eligible for Early Elder Parole as he was over the age of 60 and had served 25 years of his sentence. The D.A. office says that at the parole hearing Eleson took no responsibility for his actions and blamed others for his convictions. Those included Second-Degree Murder in San Mateo County in 1970 where he was paroled after only serving five years. In 1984, Eleson was convicted of First-Degree Sexual Abuse of a Child and Bail Jumping in Hawaii. A decade later, in 1994, Eleson faced that same crime this time with a two-year-old child in Oregon. He never faced those charges because he fled to Tuolumne County, according to the D.A.’s office.

It only took the commissioners from the Board of Parole Hearings about ten minutes to find Eleson not suitable for parole based on his continued risk to society. While he was denied a parole hearing for five years, Eleson will be eligible to petition to advance his case after three years, according to the D.A.’s office.