A man who pleaded guilty to raping and brutally killing a woman in San Luis Obispo County is set to walk free after Gov. Gavin Newsom refused to block his parole — despite prosecutors’ repeated pleas for him to be locked up.
Alberto Tamez Jr., 75, who was convicted of raping and strangling Genevieve Adaline Moreno in 1974, was granted parole by a county board late last year despite San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow fighting his release at every step.
Newsom’s office could have intervened and kept Tamez in custody, but instead chose to release him – leading Dow to criticize the governor’s inaction.
“I think the right thing to do would be to stop releasing violent criminals from our prisons just to satisfy his desire for a prison release policy,” Dow told the California Post exclusively.
“I will not change the system he created without letting the voters know how dangerous they are by letting dangerous criminals go to empty prisons,” he added. “I think the governor shouldn’t kick everyone out, but he didn’t make a bone about it.”
Newsom has not spoken publicly about his decision and his office did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.
“If you rape, strangle, torture and kill a woman – in my view – that should be the death penalty or life in prison without parole,” Dow said.
The governor’s inaction in Tamez’s case has caused shock and anger, as it comes on the heels of other high-profile amnesty decisions.
He is one of a handful of inmates who have recently benefited from California’s parole programs, particularly the Newsom-backed Elderly Parole Program, which allows inmates age 50 or older who have served at least 20 years in prison to seek parole consideration.
Gregory Lee Vogelsang, 57, a 57-year-old Sacramento-area child molester, was sentenced to 355 years to life in prison for kidnapping and sexually abusing five boys. He was offered parole in late 2025 before the parole board agreed to reconsider his release.
David Allen Funston, a serial child molester convicted in 1999 of kidnapping and sexually abusing multiple children under the age of 7 in Sacramento County, was also set to be released after a parole board decision until Placer County prosecutors filed new charges.
Israel Ceja, a Yolo County man, was sentenced to 139 years in prison in 2000 for repeatedly raping and abusing his stepdaughter since she was 11 years old. Ceja, who later admitted during the trial that he was still attracted to teenage girls, was initially recommended for release before the parole board reversed its decision after Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig backed down.
Dow said his office repeatedly fought Tamez’s release, including sending a deputy district attorney to argue against his release during the board’s December hearing.
“When California changed the system, policymakers focused on creating empathy for criminals while forgetting about the impact on victims,” the prosecutor continued. “I think Californians are in a situation where they’ve had enough.”
Steve Hilton, the GOP gubernatorial candidate, also ripped Newsom for the decision.
“I am saddened to hear from Gavin Newsom that he does not have the power to intervene in these cruel and disgusting decisions,” he told The Post. “That’s complete bullshit – and you know it.”
Tamez withdrew from the race in 1974 after targeting Moreno, 56, who worked at a bar in the farming community of Nipomo. His badly beaten body was found about a kilometer away under a grove of juniper trees.
He pleaded not guilty to murder and was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole. Dow argued that no one at the time of his sentencing could have expected that he would be released today.
“In 1974, at that time when he was sentenced, no one was released because of his crime. The law did not allow that,” said Dow.
“Good behavior doesn’t matter – bad behavior keeps you in jail.”
Now, decades later and with no surviving family to speak for Moreno, his killer will be released to the public. The massacre in the summer of 1974 still haunts today.
Investigators identified Tamez as the lone attacker after finding blood on his clothing and debris from the crime scene attached to his clothing. He admitted to dragging Moreno into the bar, beating him while he begged him to stop and leaving him unconscious after he could no longer hear his breathing, according to prosecutors.
The district attorney said his office has been trying to shift the public’s attention to the victims of crime instead of the perpetrators.
“As part of my role as president of the California District Attorneys Association, my office has begun using the phrase ‘crime and crime. the victim justice system’ instead of ‘criminal justice system,’” Dow said.
“Continuing to call it the ‘criminal justice system’ ignores the fact that every crime has a victim.”
