A 64-year-old child predator serving three life sentences who was granted parole and ordered to be released this week under California’s “Elderly Parole Program” just got a rude awakening.
A county district attorney’s office slammed the brakes on the move with an arrest warrant on separate crimes David Allen Funston, 64, also allegedly committed 30 years ago, and the almost ex-con is now behind a different set of bars, according to news outlets.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) said that Funston has been transferred to law enforcement authorities at the Placer County lockup under the warrant, despite being granted parole for other crimes on Tuesday and being scheduled for release from prison by the end of this week.
Funston is not even at Social Security’s retirement age of 65 — and California’s apparent definition of “elderly” for inmates is a whopping 15 years under that.
According to Fox News:
Funston was convicted in 1999 of kidnapping and child molestation involving multiple victims. He was originally sentenced to three life terms in prison. However, under California’s Elderly Parole Program, he was granted parole suitability and scheduled for release from CDCR custody.
Funston qualified for consideration under California’s statutory Elderly Parole Program, which allows individuals to be considered for release once they reach age 50 and have served at least 20 consecutive years of incarceration.
However, Funston was also accused of kidnapping and molesting a child in Roseville in 1996 but apparently never tried on those charges.
The Placer County District Attorney’s Office refiled the charges stemming from the 1996 case, which still falls within the state’s statute of limitations.
Former Sacramento District Attorney Ann Marie Schubert, who helped put Funston in prison more than two decades ago, also commented on the news of the arrest that put the brakes on the child predator’s freedom.
She also blasted Gov. Gavin Newsom for the controversial parole law.
“God bless Placer County DA for charging David Funston for crimes committed by this serial child predator,” the former prosecutor posted on X. “Let’s remember that @CAgovernor signed the law allowing this to happen. But Placer DA stepped in to stop this insanity.”
Current Sacramento County law enforcement authorities also said they still considered Funston a danger to the community.
California Republican Chair Corrin Rankin also criticized Newsom and said the emergency measure to keep Rankin behind bars doesn’t address a broader issue.
“This last-minute warrant doesn’t fix the problem — it exposes it. California Democrats, led by Gavin Newsom, built a parole system that was ready and willing to release a violent child predator back into our community,” Rankin said in a post. “Newsom signed the laws that created these loopholes, appointed the people who uphold them, and the Democratic majority in the legislature continues to prioritize the well-being of criminals over victims.”
Funston reportedly told the parole board he was “disgusted and ashamed” of his crimes and regretted the harm he had caused.
One of his victims earlier this week voiced her shock at the parole board’s decision to Fox News host Laura Ingraham, who joined in the outrage by mocking the age of 50 as being considered “elderly” in the modern era.
“I’m disgusted with the fact that they would even believe anything that he would happen to say,” a victim identified only as Amelia told the Ingraham Angle. “I don’t believe that people like that change.”
Amelia said Funston’s abuse has had continuing consequences, including difficulty conceiving.
“I would love to have a child, and this is what this man took from me. And I feel like, personally, that’s very hurtful,” she said. “I have trauma. I don’t trust anybody. I don’t trust anything.”
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the author of the New York Times true crime best seller House of Secrets , which documents one of the worst cases of child sex abuse in U.s. history, and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.
