A Sacramento judge called David Allen Funston "the monster parents fear most" when he sentenced him to three life terms for kidnapping children as young as three.
Twenty-seven years later, a California parole board decided he wasn't dangerous anymore.
What they found when they traced the law that made it possible will end Newsom's presidential ambitions.
The AB 3234 Loophole Newsom Signed That Freed California Child Molesters
In 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom quietly signed Assembly Bill 3234 – a budget bill rushed through the Legislature without a single Senate policy committee hearing.
The bill lowered the elderly parole eligibility age from 60 to 50 and cut the minimum time served from 25 years down to 20.
Proponents promised serial rapists and child molesters would be excluded.
They weren't.
It was either the most catastrophic legislative accident in California history – or they knew exactly what they were doing.
Republican Senator Brian Jones tried to close the loophole in 2021 with SB 445.
Democrats killed it on a party-line vote.
They had four years to fix this.
They chose not to.
David Funston and Gregory Vogelsang: The Child Predators Newsom's Parole Board Set Free
David Allen Funston targeted children as young as three years old – luring them with Barbie dolls and candy.
He was convicted in 1999 on 16 counts of kidnapping and child molestation and sentenced to three consecutive life terms.
Sacramento Superior Court Judge Jack Sapunor told Funston at sentencing: "You became the monster parents fear most."
Under Newsom's law, Funston became eligible for parole at 50 after serving 20 years.
In September 2025, the California Board of Parole Hearings approved his release.
Newsom referred the case back for review in January 2026.
The board reaffirmed the decision.
Funston walked out of prison on February 26 – and was immediately rearrested on new charges Placer County prosecutors had been holding in reserve.
One of Funston's victims, identified only as Amelia, went on Fox News to respond.
"I was told that he fantasizes still about children," she said.
"Why would you let this man out?"
Then there's Gregory Lee Vogelsang – convicted of nearly 30 counts of kidnapping and sex crimes against children between the ages of 5 and 11 in the 1990s.
He's serving 355 years.
The parole board recommended his release anyway.
At his own hearing, Vogelsang admitted he still had urges to assault children – and warned himself on tape that those urges could lead to murder.
Sacramento County Sheriff Jim Cooper said what every parent in California already knows: "They shouldn't breathe our air."
Cooper was more specific in his written statement after the board's decision: "Age does not erase predatory behavior. It does not undo grooming. It does not restore stolen childhoods."
Newsom's Own Party Breaks Ranks
The public outrage finally got loud enough that California Democrats could no longer ignore it.
On Tuesday, a bipartisan committee advanced AB 2727 – authored by Democrat Assemblymember Stephanie Nguyen of Elk Grove.
The bill would raise the elderly parole eligibility age to 65 and permanently exclude inmates convicted of the most serious sexual offenses.
For other aggravated sexual offenses, parole would only be available to those 75 and older who have served at least 30 years.
Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho, who has prosecuted child sex crimes for years, backed the bill without hesitation.
"Recent changes to elder parole laws break our promise to victims and endanger our most vulnerable – our children," Ho said.
Ho made his point about whether predators change with age by citing the Golden State Killer, Joseph DeAngelo, who was 72 when he was caught.
"I have video of him in his jail cell looking at a female worker," Ho said.
"And he is masturbating to her."
Newsom Built This Trap and Walked Right Into It
Newsom is playing both sides of a crisis he created.
He signed the law.
He appointed the parole board commissioners who released these predators.
His party killed the Republican bill that would have fixed the loophole in 2021.
And now – with midterms approaching and Sacramento a national embarrassment on child safety – he's letting a Democrat carry a reform bill while claiming his hands were tied.
Newsom moved his family back to Kentfield – a wealthy Marin County enclave with 184 registered sex offenders in the entire county.
Then he signed the law that released child predators into California neighborhoods with thousands.
California GOP Chair Corrin Rankin put it plainly after Funston's arrest: "This last-minute warrant doesn't fix the problem – it exposes it."
She's right.
The only reason Funston isn't currently living in a California community is because Placer County prosecutors quietly refiled a 1996 case before he walked out the prison gates.
That is not a safety net.
That is one DA playing cleanup for an entire failed system.
The next predator on the list won't have a cold case waiting for him.
And Gavin Newsom will still be in Marin.
Sources:
- Titus Wu, "Gavin Newsom's parole law that granted release of high-profile sex offender torched by own party," New York Post, April 7, 2026.
- Fox News Staff, "Child predator cleared for parole arrested after surprise warrant drops hours before prison release," Fox News, February 27, 2026.
- Fox News Staff, "California lawmakers demand reform as serial child molester recommended for parole despite 355-year sentence," Fox News, March 2026.
- Senator Brian Jones, "Leader Jones' Bill to End Elderly Parole for Violent Sex Offenders Unanimously Passes Key Senate Committee," California Senate Republican Caucus, April 8, 2025.
- CDCR, "CDCR Turns David Allen Funston Over to Local Law Enforcement Officials Today After Warrant Issued for His Arrest," California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, February 26, 2026.
