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Berkeley resident and convicted child molester Kenneth Parnell was convicted Monday on charges of trying to buy a 4-year-old boy. 

Parnell, 72, was arrested in West Berkeley last January after he allegedly offered an informant $500 to deliver him a boy for sexual purposes.  

After deliberating for about two hours, the jury found Parnell guilty of solicitation to commit a crime, trying to buy a person and attempted child theft. Under the state’s three strikes law, Parnell could face life imprisonment. 

Parnell was convicted of kidnapping a 7-year-old Merced boy in 1972 and a 5-year-old Ukiah boy in 1980. He was paroled to Berkeley in 1985 after serving five years in state prison. 

—Matthew Artz 

Bay City News contributed to this report.