{"id":46272,"date":"2026-04-10T02:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T02:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=46272"},"modified":"2026-04-10T02:30:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T02:30:00","slug":"sex-abuse-victim-begs-california-dems-to-change-elder-parole-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=46272","title":{"rendered":"Sex abuse victim begs California Dems to change elder parole law"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>A sexual abuse victim gave heart-wrenching testimony to state lawmakers, begging them at a committee hearing to fix what she called <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/02\/26\/us-news\/gavin-newsom-faces-outrage-as-old-child-rapist-walks-free\/\">\u201ca terrible law\u201d by California Democrats <\/a>that lets elderly criminals qualify for early parole hearing.<\/p>\n<p>Lawmakers are facing public outrage after the law paved way for approving the release of<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/02\/22\/us-news\/california-child-molester-david-allen-funston-granted-parole\/\"> serial child rapist David Allen Funston<\/a> in February. Funston reportedly kidnapped and molested at least eight children \u2014 seven girls and one boy.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>\u00a0A sex abuse victim, identified only as Terena, begs lawmakers to change an elder parole law.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>One of those victims appeared Tuesday in front of lawmakers, who later <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/04\/07\/us-news\/anger-over-california-parole-releases-spark-lawmakers-to-course-correct\/\">advanced a bill<\/a> that would limit who would be eligible for an elderly parole hearing to those ages 65 and above. The \u201cterrible law\u201d had loosened that requirement to ages 50 and over.<\/p>\n<p>The victim, who was identified only as Terena, recounted to legislators \u201cone of the worst days of my life\u201d through many tears and tissues.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>California state lawmakers listen to the sexual abuse victim testifying about the bill.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>She was seven years old, playing outside, when she was approached by Funston. He had a necklace and asked to take a picture with her. She didn\u2019t approach him. He left and came back, approaching her with candy. He touched her, even though she still moved away.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe was able to eventually lure me into a  laundry room where he asked to see my bottom and quickly attempted to pull down my pants,\u201d Terena said.<\/p>\n<p>She fled and returned to her mother, Terena recounted, while she took long pauses at times to compose herself.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>David Allen Funston was convicted in 1999 in Sacramento County of 16 counts of kidnapping and child molestation.  <span class=\"credit\">Youtube \/ KCRA 3<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"single__inline-module inline-module inline-module--newsletter aligncenter inline-module--nypostbusinessunit aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-newsletter\" data-source-unit=\"Inline Newsletter Module Cali - Morning Report\">\n<div class=\"inline-module__inner\">\n<div class=\"inline-module__title-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"inline-module__unsubmitted-title-wrapper\">\n<h3 class=\"inline-module__title headline headline--combo-sm-md\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for the California Morning Report newsletter\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h3>\n<p class=\"inline-module__cta\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCalifornia&#8217;s top news, sports and entertainment delivered to your inbox every day.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><h3 class=\"inline-module__title headline headline--combo-sm-md\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\t\t\t\t\t<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cNow 30 years later I\u2019m hearing that my real-life boogeyman is able to get released early,\u201d she said, noting she has a child now.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe will never stop hurting children. He is dangerous, he will always be dangerous. Please fix this terrible law,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p>Funston was 64 when he was granted parole.<\/p>\n<p>Lawmakers praised Terena\u2019s courage for showing up to testify. The legislation authored by Assemblymember Stephanie Nguyen (D) heads to another committee as lawmakers have until end of August to send bills over to Gov. Gavin Newsom.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters <\/strong><\/h2>\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p><strong>California Post News<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheCaliforniaPost\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/californiapost\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instagram<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@CaliforniaPost\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">TikTok<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/californiapost\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">X<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@thecaliforniapost\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">YouTube<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whatsapp.com\/channel\/0029Vb6a2IV1NCrL6q2AWq0E\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">WhatsApp<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/linkedin.com\/company\/californiapost\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">LinkedIn<\/a><br \/><strong>California Post Sports<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/capostsports\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/capostsports\/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instagram<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@capostsports\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">TikTok<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@CaliforniaPostSports\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">YouTube<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/capostsports\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">X<\/a><br \/><strong>California Post  <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/californiapost\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Opinion<\/a> <br \/><strong>California Post Newsletters<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/email.nypost.com\/#california-post\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sign up here!<\/a><br \/><strong>California Post App<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/apps.apple.com\/us\/app\/california-post\/id6751343487\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Download here!<\/a><br \/><strong>Home delivery<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/subscribe.californiapost.com\/defaultCAP\">Sign up here!<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/apps.apple.com\/us\/app\/california-post\/id6751343487\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/><\/a><strong>Page Six Hollywood<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/hollywood-signup\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sign up here!<\/a><\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.tiktok.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/04\/09\/lifestyle\/heartbreaking-moment-as-sex-abuse-victim-begs-calif-dems-to-change-elder-parole-law\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A sexual abuse victim gave heart-wrenching testimony to state lawmakers, begging them at a committee hearing to fix what she called \u201ca terrible law\u201d by California&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46273,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46272\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/46273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}