Following a major backlash over the child abuser’s planned release through California’s adult parole system, the 64-year-old now faces new charges that could land him behind bars.
The news that David Allen Funston would be released was met with outrage among victims, politicians and others. The former Sacramento County district attorney who prosecuted Funston said he was strongly opposed to his release: “This is what I’m screaming about.”
Funston, who was granted parole earlier this month, was scheduled to be released Thursday from state prison — but was re-arrested the same day on new charges in a decades-old, unsolved case. The charges against him stem from a 1996 conviction for sexually assaulting a child in Roseville, according to the Placer County District Attorney’s Office.
In 1999, he was convicted of 16 counts of kidnapping and child molestation and was serving three consecutive sentences of 25 years to life in prison and one sentence of 20 years and eight months at the California Institution for Men in Chino. The sentences follow a string of cases out of Sacramento County in which prosecutors say Funston lured children as young as 7 with candy and, in at least one case, a Barbie doll to kidnap and sexually assault them, often with threats of violence.
He was described by the judge at his sentencing hearing as “monsters parents are very afraid of.”
Placer County prosecutors, at the time, decided not to proceed with the case against Funston in Roseville because of the severity of the sentences he received in Sacramento County.
But because of his planned release from state prison, prosecutors decided to file new charges against him. Residences in Placer County Athi. Morgan Gire said “changes in state law and recent parole board failures” led to his wrongful release.
“This person has previously been sentenced to life imprisonment for many serious crimes,” said Gire in a statement. “When changes in the law put our communities at risk, it is our job to reevaluate those cases and act accordingly. David Allen Funston committed a real crime against a Placer County child, and the statute of limitations allows us to charge him with those crimes.”
He is now being held without bail in the Placer County Jail on suspicion of indecency with a child, according to prosecutors. Funston’s lawyer, Maya Emig, said that she only recently learned about his arrest and had not had time to fully review the matter.
But he noted that he believes in “the justice system and the rule of law.”
Emig called the Board of Disciplinary Board’s decision to grant Funston senior amnesty “lawful and fair.”
California’s adult parole system generally considers the release of inmates over the age of 50 and who have been incarcerated for at least 20 consecutive years, considering whether someone poses an unreasonable risk to public safety.
In Funston’s case, commissioners said they did not believe Funston posed a significant risk because of the extensive self-help work, treatment work and sex therapy classes he completed, as well as his detailed program to avoid repeating his crimes, his remorse and his record of good behavior in prison, according to a transcript from the Sept. 24 hearing.
At the hearing, Funston called himself a “selfish coward” for abusing young children, and said he was “disgusted and ashamed of my behavior and deeply remorseful for the harm I did to my victims, their families and the community of Sacramento.”
“I’m really sorry,” he said.
But the victims of his crimes, as well as prosecutors and elected officials, have questioned the parole decision and are calling for it to be reversed.
“He’s one sick person,” Funston’s victim told The Times. “What if he goes out and tries to find his old victims and wants to kill us?”
Spokesman for Gov. Gavin Newsom said the governor also disagreed with Funston’s release and asked the board to review the case. However, Newsom does not have the authority to overturn a parole decision.
Some state lawmakers have also cited Funston’s case as evidence that California’s adult parole system needs to be reformed, having recently introduced a bill that would exempt people convicted of sex crimes from being considered by the program.
