Convicted child molester Michael Ward will remain in state prison for at least another three years after being denied parole this week for the fifth time, the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office announced.
A Yolo County jury convicted Ward of child molestation involving two young girls in Woodland in 1996 after Ward sent pornographic Polaroid photographs through the mail to an undercover Utah special agent. A search warrant was obtained and other evidence was found linking Ward to the two girls, whom he had photographed and molested.
Ward had admitted to molesting numerous other young children in Woodland. On Oct. 17, 1997, a Yolo County judge sentenced him to 15 years to life in prison for his conviction for lewd or lascivious acts upon a child under 14 with more than one victim.
Supervising Deputy District Attorney Christopher Bulkeley prosecuted the case in 1996.
Ward’s parole hearing was heard Wednesday before Board of Parole Hearings Commissioner Michelle Minor and Deputy Commissioner Cathleen Newman at the California Health Care Facility in Stockton, attended by Chief Deputy Jonathan Raven, the mother of one of the victims and an advocate from the District Attorney’s Victim Services Division.
In denying Ward parole, Commissioner Minor stated that Ward “still poses an unreasonable risk to public safety,” listing the following reasons for the decision: Ward was unable to control his behavior before being incarcerated, continues to minimize his role in the crimes, lacks insight to the causative factors, has a poor relapse prevention plan, doesn’t understand the grooming behavior he utilizes and he has unrealistic parole plans.
Ward will again be eligible for parole in three years.
“The result of a three-year denial means that the victim and her family’s wish, that Mr. Ward remain imprisoned for the safety of the children in our community, was met,” Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig said.