Parole Official Resigned After Sexual Allegation

A parole board member appointed by Gov. Pete Wilson was quietly forced to resign after a parolee alleged that he had made improper sexual advances.

The parolee made the allegation against Charles G. (Jerry) Westlund Jr., a member of the Narcotic Addict Evaluation Authority. Westlund, a Long Beach gaming consultant, agreed to resign the $33,500-a-year position last fall to avoid embarrassing the governor, the Contra Costa Times reported in a story published Sunday.

Westlund acknowledged arranging a date with the female parolee, but denied her allegation that he tried to force her to perform sexual acts. He said the meeting was only to discuss possible employment.

Westlund, 30, said he quit because “I didn’t want to cause embarrassment to Pete Wilson. I have the utmost respect for him, and I’m not going to put him in an uncomfortable spot.”

The 29-year-old woman told the newspaper that the incident occurred in October, four days after Westlund approved her parole from the California Rehabilitation Center in Norco. She said Westlund called her and asked her out on a date.

She said he became aggressive while they were in his car and pulled up her dress and began to grope her after she refused him.

The authority that Westlund served on is a seven-member parole board for rehabilitation center inmates. Most inmates are drug addicts committed under California’s civil addict program.

Social contact between Department of Corrections employees and parolees is inappropriate, corrections spokesman Tip Kindel said.

“This was one of those situations where it was fairly cut-and-dried,” Kindel said. “The guy met with a parolee and shouldn’t have.”