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Man serving 251 years for Tiburon rape denied parole for five years

California’s Elderly Parole Program allows inmates 60 or older who have served continuously for at least 25 years to seek review.

Kevin Hessel
By KEVIN HESSEL · 1 min read

Frederick Sidney Laird, who received a 251-year prison sentence for a violent rape in Tiburon in 1998, was denied parole for at least five years Jan. 7 after his first parole hearing since his conviction.

Laird, 65, is incarcerated at the Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison in Corcoran. The California Board of Parole Hearings’ decision means his next parole consideration will occur in 2031.

California’s Elderly Parole Program allows inmates 60 or older who have served continuously for at least 25 years to seek review. Laird became eligible under a 2014 federal court order that extended parole consideration to inmates sentenced under California’s three-strikes law.

Laird was convicted in 1999 after pleading guilty to 10 felonies connected to the July 13, 1998, attack. He had responded to a newspaper advertisement placed by a 25-year-old Tiburon woman seeking a roommate.

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A version of this story appeared in the Jan. 28, 2026, print edition of The Ark. See something wrong? Request a correction.
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