Some stories make you shake your head. This one will shake the very core of your being.
WARNING: Before I go any further, the records and reporting around this case include descriptions that are deeply disturbing. Graphic content follows.
California nearly released a convicted serial child predator, David Allen Funston, under the state’s “elderly parole” program.
‘MONSTER PARENTS FEAR THE MOST’: A serial child predator serving life is granted parole under a California program.
David Allen Funston, 64, was convicted of 16 counts of kidnapping and child molestation. pic.twitter.com/LUrtkAIR69
— Outnumbered (@OutnumberedFNC) February 26, 2026
He’s 64. He was convicted in 1999 after a Sacramento County jury found him guilty of 16 felony counts tied to abductions involving children younger than 7.
That’s not a typo. Children under 7.
Funston received more than 20 years in prison plus three consecutive 25-years-to-life terms.
And yet the system moved him toward the exit anyway.
According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Funston was granted parole suitability by the Board of Parole Hearings on September 26, 2025.
Then Governor Gavin Newsom referred it back for review on January 12, 2026. And after that, a board panel reaffirmed the decision on February 18, 2026, recommending parole.
Bill Melugin of FOX News obtained copies of the transcripts from the parole hearings.
According to Melugin, at the 2022 parole hearing Funston “admits he had incestuous sexual fantasies about his own young daughter, and he describes how he found the first child he raped while driving around in Sacramento.
In the 2025 hearing, Funston “says as recently as 2021, he was masturbating to children in prison, including fantasies he was having about an 8-year-old girl who used to live across the street from him.”
The transcript also reveals that Funston admitted “he raped a little boy because he was ‘vulnerable and available’ and says he targeted children because he enjoyed the power he had over them.”
He went on to admit that “he still has ‘urges’, but he has developed an ‘urge control plan’, and says he would never be around children again as it would be a high risk situation for him.”
High risk for…HIM? Seriously?
Sacramento County Sheriff Jim Cooper reviewed the original reports and said Funston is “a definite danger to the community” and “not rehabilitated.”
Then Cooper asked the question every parent is asking:
“What’s ironic is the parole board read the same reports that I’m reading. How the hell did they come to that conclusion versus what I came to?”
The Sacramento County District Attorney, Thien Ho, didn’t mince words either:
“This defendant is the worst of the worst, a child predator who lures, grabs, kidnaps, and assaults children. He will reoffend and is a ticking time bomb.”
Ho called it “a broken law that results in broken promises and broken lives.”
And victims are the ones forced to carry the weight of this insanity. One survivor told the Los Angeles Times: “He shouldn’t be breathing the same air that we’re breathing.”
Prosecutors said Funston approached kids playing outside and lured them with candy, toys, and promises before abducting and assaulting them.
Trial testimony included threats meant to silence victims, including holding a knife to a young girl’s throat.
So no, this wasn’t some harmless old man. This was a predator who targeted little kids.
And the “experts” nearly turned him loose.
Supporters of these parole programs always have talking points.
They’ll say older inmates have lower re-offense rates. They’ll say parole is granted in a small percentage of cases. They’ll say, “trust the process.”
Here’s my answer: Hell, no!
Nevada also has a “geriatric parole” law on the books that was passed by Democrats in 2019 and signed by then-Democrat Gov. Steve Sisolak.
If I’m elected to represent Nevada State Senate District 8 this year, I will support its repeal. California just gave us the warning. We’d be fools to ignore it.
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