Ex-policeman asks for denial of parole
Former officer makes request after learning his son killed himself
SOLEDAD — In an unexpected twist, a convicted child molester Thursday asked at his own hearing that he be denied parole after learning the son he molested for years killed himself 14 years ago. Ron Roy Choss, 63, was convicted of charges related to child molestation and rape of his son, Ronaldo Choss, and stepdaughter Michele Choss. In 1989, Choss, a former Emeryville police officer, was sentenced to 75 years in state prison, but recent regulations designed to ease prison overcrowding made him eligible for a parole hearing. Because he is over the age of 60 and has served more than 25 years, Choss was granted Thursday’s parole hearing in Soledad State Prison.
Michele Choss, who was about 13 when the abuse started, said she was terrified to be in the same room as the man who terrorized and raped her throughout her childhood in Livermore. Yesterday, she faced him for the first time in 27 years in a small room at the state prison that is south of Salinas in Monterey County.
“I don’t believe anyone like him has the capability of changing,” she told this newspaper earlier this month. “There’s not one ounce of forgiveness in me. I don’t believe he’s sorry. He’ll strongly deny it as he did back then.”
Choss did deny everything in his psychological report but mentioned that he wanted to rekindle his relationship with his son.
When he found out Thursday morning that his son had killed himself 14 years ago at the age of 23, Choss changed his mind about his parole, said Alameda County assistant district attorney Jill Klinge. He had been deemed a high risk of reoffending, she said.
Choss, through his attorney Michele Garfinkle, asked for a stipulation, or agreed statement by both parties, that he was unsuitable for parole for five years.
The district attorney opposed the time period, instead asking for 10 to 15 years. The parole panel deliberated and decided to wait seven years until Choss’ next parole hearing. Garfinkle could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Larry Goodman, who presided over the original case, wrote a letter on Michele Choss’ behalf, opposing that the prisoner be released, as did the investigating Livermore detective, Mark Tarte.
“This is the wrong way to alleviate prison overcrowding,” Tarte said after the hearing. “He’s hardly elderly. Just because he’s over 60 doesn’t mean he won’t reoffend.”
Tarte said in his statement to the parole board that Choss used his position of power as a police officer to terrorize his children.
Michele Choss, who now goes by a different name, was “a champion” during her statement, delivering a powerful recounting of the horror her stepfather put her and her half-brother through, Tarte said.
In January 1987, Michele Choss fought back when her stepfather came after her with a knife. She fired a shotgun, hitting him in the neck. Her charges were later dropped.
When Michele Choss read her statement, Tarte said it felt as if Choss was trying to hold it together.
“I think the enormity of what he did finally hit him,” Tarte said. “He walked out of that room a stupid old man.”