A man convicted of kidnapping and sexually assaulting his friend’s five-year-old daughter, a convicted pedophile, is potentially eligible for release from prison under a recent change in California law, despite being sentenced to 350 years behind bars.
Charles William Mix, then 47 years old, committed the heinous crime in 2003 by smuggling the young girl hundreds of miles away from her family’s home in Riverside, California, to Utah in a stolen vehicle before subjecting her to horrific acts.
At the time of the crime, Mix was living with the girl, her father, and her sister and was reportedly very close to the family. He was apprehended less than 12 hours later after a passerby reported seeing him, but not before he had already assaulted the victim and taken explicit photographs of her.
“She’d fight me, but I’d persist,” he told Riverside police, referring to when he would undress the victim. “She wasn’t used to it.”
Mix was found guilty of a range of serious crimes, including deliberate child abuse, kidnapping with the intent to commit theft or sexual assault, engaging in lewd behavior with a child under 14, and burglary.
The victim’s family had felt some relief knowing that her attacker would be imprisoned for life, but now there is concern as Mix may become eligible for parole under California’s Elderly Parole Program. This program was updated in 2021 to allow eligibility at the age of 50, and convicts must have served at least 20 years of continuous incarceration — both criteria that Mix now meets.
Although the victim, now 27, has not publicly discussed the trauma she endured at the hands of Mix, her family is urging authorities to keep him behind bars.
“I’m writing to request — no, to implore — that you deny parole for the above referenced inmate, who 20 years ago was sentenced to 350 years-to-life in prison for sexually molesting a 5-year-old girl,” the woman’s relatives wrote in a letter to the parole board.
The devastated family went on to say that Mix was “old enough to be her grandfather, and certainly old enough to know exactly what he was doing.”
“Not only did he steal her innocence and the inviolability of her home (where all children should feel safe), but he actually tried to steal her away from her family,” the letter continued. “He professed his romantic ‘love’ for her in myriad love letters and claimed that his feelings were reciprocated — BY A 5-YEAR-OLD.”
When Riverside County Superior Court Judge Christian F. Thierbach presided over Mix’s trial, he told Mix that “the human race has yet to create a punishment that adequately addresses what you did to this little girl, and I suspect one reason for that is what you did to her is inhuman.”
Thierbach went on to say, “I dare say if that happens, civilization as we know it will have ceased to exist.”
The victim’s family wrote that they could not agree more with that assessment.
Claira Stansbury, the victim’s sister, told KTLA last week that she is still impacted by Mix’s terrible crimes.
“She has to deal with this for the rest of her life and she has to learn to cope with what happened to her for the rest of her life,” she said, explaining that a “lot of trauma has been reopened” due to the prospect of Mix being released.
“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,” Stansbury continued. “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 released a statement to the outlet, voicing their support for victims:
Our office stands firmly with the victims who must attend parole hearings to keep dangerous felons in prison. It is appalling that the state continues 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. This practice compels victims to relive their devastating experiences. We have a team of dedicated attorneys and victim specialists fighting against the early release of dangerous felons. Our office is committed to protecting victims and seeing that this practice of early parole is put to an end.
The family of Mix’s victim has requested the public to send letters to the parole board in order to prevent the kidnapper from being released.
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