SACRAMENTO, Mar. 26 – Sandra Good, a leader in the cult of convicted mass murderer Charles Manson, will not be paroled to Sacramento when she is released Friday from federal prison in West Virginia.

In an abrupt reversal, officials of the U.S. Parole Commission said Monday that Good definitely will not be returned to the Sacramento area, where she was convicted more than nine years ago.

Word of the parole commission’s switch in plans came first from Charle Varnon, chief federal probation officer for California’s eastern district. Varnon said he was advised of it in a telephone call from Benjamin Baer, chairman of the U.S. Parole Commission in Chevy Chase, Md.

Officials didn’t know Monday where Good would be sent.

“I was told that the Parole Commission is trying to find a place to put her other than California,” Varnon said, “but as of … (Monday) they were still negotiating with other districts.”

The news was greeted with elation by Sacramento area Reps. Vic Fazio and Robert Matsui, who had joined with local law enforcement officers, including Sacramento Police Chief John Kearns, in protesting Good’s return.

“You can say the congressman is ecstatic,” said James Mulhall, spokesman for Fazio, D-West Sacramento.

“The Parole Commission apparently concurred with our fundamental points that it would not be wise for her to be in close proximity to other Manson followers. The level of public opinion evidently brought the whole thing to a head, and the congressman is extremely pleased with the outcome.”

Good, 41, was sentenced in 1976 to a 15-year term for conspiring to mail threatening letters and make telephone threats to business executives who she said were destroying the environment.

The other Manson disciples living in the area are Susan Murphy, who was convicted with Good in the threats conspiracy, and Catherine “Gypsy” Share Como, convicted on federal mail fraud charges.

Earlier this month, Good had protested plans for her release from prison in Alderson, W.Va., where she had been serving time with chief Manson cultist Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, who was convicted in 1975 of an assassination attempt on President Gerald Ford.

“They’re forcing rue out against my will,” Good told The Bee in a telephone interview.

Varnon said his office had been working on a release plan for Good in anticipation of her return to Sacramento. “But,” he said, “she had no job, no money no place to live and there was not overwhelming support for her arrival in the community.”

Varnon said Good had stated a desire to live with “a person” in Vacaville, but, he added, “that was not acceptable because that person had Manson connections going clear back to the Spahn Ranch.

The Spahn Ranch was the deserted spot once used as a Western movie set where the Manson clan was said to have hatched its plots for the 1969 Tate-LaBianca murders in Los Angeles.

Federal authorities said Good had earned a maximum amount of “good time” and could not be kept in prison after her March 29 mandatory release date. They also said federal regulations demanded that Good be returned to the federal court district from which she was committed.

By MAX MILLER