California parents were already terrified of this man in 1999.
A Sacramento judge sentenced him to three consecutive life terms and called him "the monster parents fear the most."
Now Gavin Newsom's parole board just handed him a ticket home – and the law Newsom personally signed made it possible.
David Allen Funston: The Sacramento Child Predator Sentenced to Three Life Terms
David Allen Funston spent the mid-1990s hunting children in Sacramento suburbs.
He used candy, toys, and Barbie dolls to lure them into his vehicle.
His victims were as young as three years old.
He took one child into the mountains and beat her so badly – stuffing her underwear down her throat to muffle her screaming – that the case haunted the prosecutor who tried it for the rest of her career.
Convicted in 1999 of 16 counts of kidnapping and child molestation, he received three consecutive 25-years-to-life sentences plus an additional 20 years and 8 months.
The math was supposed to be simple: David Allen Funston would die in prison.
Then Gavin Newsom picked up a pen.
California Elderly Parole Program: How AB 3234 Opened the Door
In September 2020, Newsom signed Assembly Bill 3234 – a gut-and-amend budget maneuver rushed through the legislature on a party-line vote with no Senate policy committee hearing and no public input.
The bill lowered California's Elderly Parole Program eligibility from age 60 with 25 years served to age 50 with just 20 years served.
Democrats who pushed the bill swore – on the record – that violent sex offenders would be excluded.
There was no exclusion.
Funston turned 50. He served 20 years. He became eligible.
In September 2025, a parole panel granted him release. On February 18, 2026, the full Board of Parole Hearings reaffirmed that decision over Newsom's objection.
Sacramento County Sheriff Jim Cooper held a news conference and said exactly what every parent in California was thinking.
"Compassionate release?" Cooper asked. "Where is the compassion for the victims? There's zero compassion for the victims. They don't give a damn about the victims."
Victims Were Forced to Watch It Happen
Amelia – one of Funston's survivors – went on national television this week to reject the parole board's decision.
"I'm disgusted with the fact that they would even believe anything that he would happen to say," she told Fox News. "I don't believe that people like that change."
She told the story of what this man stole from her life – the trauma, the inability to trust anyone, the difficulty conceiving a child.
"I would love to have a child, and this is what this man took from me," she said.
Another victim – abducted at age 4 – had three words for the parole board: "That man is a monster."
Funston told the board he was "disgusted and ashamed" of his behavior and "truly sorry" for what he did to his victims and their families.
His victims weren't buying it.
"No, I do not, and I will not," Amelia said when asked whether she accepts his apology.
Former Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert – the prosecutor who put Funston away – called the decision "shocking" and "disgusting" and pointed the finger directly at Newsom.
"It's Gavin Newsom that signed the law that's allowing him to be released and without having any exclusion for serial sex offenders," Schubert said.
She has already sent a letter to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation demanding Funston be screened as a sexually violent predator – a designation that could block his release and commit him to a state hospital instead.
Democrats Blocked the Bill That Would Have Kept Sex Offenders Off Elderly Parole
Republicans tried to close this loophole.
In 2021, State Sen. Brian Jones introduced SB 445 specifically to exclude violent sex offenders from Elderly Parole eligibility.
Senate Democrats killed it on a party-line vote in committee.
Last year, Jones tried again with SB 286 – dubbed "Mary-Bella's Law" after two victims. It passed the Senate Public Safety Committee unanimously. Forty survivors showed up at the Capitol to fight for it.
Democrats buried it in the Appropriations Suspense File. No vote. No debate. Dead in the dark.
Jones put it plainly: "Dangerous Democrats have once again chosen violent sex offenders over the rights of victims and public safety."
Meanwhile, Funston is preparing to walk out of the California Institution for Men in Chino.
The same parole board that found him "suitable for release" acknowledged in its own review that he considers pedophilia a lifelong condition he will spend the rest of his life managing.
He told them himself. They released him anyway.
Newsom says he "doesn't agree" with the outcome and has asked the board to take another look – a request the board already rejected on February 18.
His spokesman declined to answer whether any legislative or constitutional changes to the Elderly Parole Program are needed.
That is not a coincidence.
Newsom is running from the law with his name on it.
Every parent in California should remember this moment – the day the politicians who promised to protect their children chose the man with a Barbie doll over the three-year-old girl he took into the mountains.
Sources:
- Taylor Penley, "Victim fears for others after California parole board approves release of convicted child predator," Fox News, February 26, 2026.
- "Child predator dubbed 'monster parents fear most' cleared for release through California parole program," Fox News, February 25, 2026.
- "Therapy, remorse: A look at how 'monster' child molester got parole and new efforts to alter law," Los Angeles Times/DNYUZ, February 25, 2026.
- "Newsom wants California parole board to 're-review' child molester release," FOX40/YourCentralValley.com, February 25, 2026.
- "Leader Jones introduces measure to End Early Release for Violent Sex Offenders and Murderers," California Senate Republican Caucus.
- "Dangerous Democrats Support Early Release for Violent Sex Offenders," California Senate Republican Caucus, 2025.
- "'The Monster Parents Fear Most' Paroled by California Board, Sparking Outrage," NewsBusters/CNS News, February 26, 2026.