‘Ski Mask Rapist’ at Correctional Training Facility denied parole

UPDATE 8/7/19 8:07 p.m. George Anthony Sanchez was denied parole for 7 years at the Wednesday hearing.

A spokesperson with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation says he will be eligible for another hearing in 7 years and pointed out that it does not mean he will be released in 7 years.

PREVIOUS STORY: George Anthony Sanchez, also known as the “Ski Mask Rapist,” was convicted of more than two dozen rapes in the Bay Area in the 1980s, but he is set to appear at a parole hearing Wednesday, according to KION’s sister station in the Bay Area.

Sanchez, who is housed at the Correctional Training Facility in Soledad, was sentenced to 406 years in prison after he was found guilty of 25 rapes, but under the new “Elderly Parole Program,” some inmates who have spent decades in prison can be eligible for parole.

The majority of the crimes were committed before Sanchez was 26 years old, so the state granted him “youthful offender” status, and that made him eligible for the hearing. Sanchez is now 58 years old.

KION’s sister station reports that his victims have expressed concern about his possible release and have spent decades in intense therapy.