A California mayor has denounced the release of Andrew Luster, the cosmetics heir and convicted serial rapist who was found guilty of drugging and sexually assaulting multiple unconscious women.
“The City of Glendora is beyond disappointed,” Mayor David Fredendall said in a statement after reports surfaced that Luster was living in the Glendora area. “We are outraged.”
Luster, the great-grandson of cosmetics pioneer Max Factor, was convicted on 86 felony counts involving the poisoning, rape, sodomy and oral copulation of three unconscious women. He was initially sentenced to 124 years in prison, but that term was reduced to 50 years in 2013 after a habeas corpus petition, according to court records.
Luster left prison on Oct. 11 after serving 20 years. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation told The Los Angeles Times that he had completed his “full sentence as required by law.”
Fredendall cited California’s Proposition 57 as part of the framework behind Luster’s release. Approved by voters in 2016, the measure made certain nonviolent offenders eligible for credits and earlier release.
“A man convicted of repeatedly drugging and raping unconscious women was sentenced to serve 124 years in prison, has now been released after serving only 20 years in prison, under a sentencing framework that Proposition 57 helped create,” Fredendall said. “The State may argue that this was not technically an early release. It can point to sentencing credits, legal calculations, and administrative requirements. However, those technical explanations do not address the larger concern: how an individual originally sentenced to 124 years in prison for heinous crimes is able to walk out of a secured facility after only 20 years.”
What Was Andrew Luster Accused of Doing?
Luster was arrested in July 2000 after a college student accused him of raping her at his home, People reported. Her account was later supported by investigators who found a video showing Luster assaulting the unconscious woman.
The Ventura County District Attorney’s Office said Luster, who was in his early 30s at the time, commonly targeted young women he met at college bars.
“Luster drugged his victims with gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB), a highly dangerous drug banned in the United States, primarily because it is a drug of choice for rapists,” the office said in an October 2024 statement. “After rendering his victims into a life-threatening state of unconsciousness, Luster engaged in sadistic sexual abuse of their comatose bodies. In two of the attacks, Luster recorded his rape and sexual abuse of the victims.”
The assaults took place over nearly four years, from October 1996 through July 2000.
Andrew Luster Was Captured By Duane “The Dog” Chapman
Luster faced trial in 2003 on 86 felony counts involving three female victims. Before the verdict was delivered, prosecutors said, he escaped to Mexico. He was convicted in absentia and captured several months later by reality television bounty hunter Duane “The Dog” Chapman.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Tony Wold, who prosecuted the original case, called Luster “one of the most dangerous rapists I have ever prosecuted.”
Why Was Andrew Luster Released?
The original 124-year sentence was cut to 50 years in 2013 after a judge agreed with Luster’s appellate lawyers that a sentencing error had occurred, according to the court records.
California generally requires nonviolent offenders to serve half of their sentences, The Los Angeles Times reported. Luster also received 977 days of credit for work and good behavior.
Luster was initially approved for parole in 2024, but the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office challenged the decision. Prosecutors ultimately helped persuade a majority of parole board commissioners to overturn the release, prosecutors said.
“By drugging his victims into a coma-like state, Andrew Luster played Russian roulette with the lives of his victims so he could abuse their comatose bodies,” Wold said at the time. “Even now, he attempts to rewrite the history of his heinous crimes to falsely mitigate his culpability to gain early release. He remains a highly dangerous sexual predator. We continue to maintain he should serve his full sentence. He’s earned it.”
Luster, now 62, was released this month and began parole after the corrections department determined that he had served the full term required under state law.
Fredendall issued his sharp rebuke after learning that Luster had moved into the community, roughly 25 miles east of Los Angeles.
“Glendora stands alongside the victims of these crimes and reassures them that their pain and suffering will not go unnoticed,” he said. “Our Police Department will work with State parole authorities to ensure every applicable law and condition of supervision is followed. We will do everything within our lawful authority to protect our residents.”
The mayor added that Glendora residents should not have to question their safety because Luster is living near the city’s parks, schools, churches and community centers.
“They deserve better,” he said, “than explanations that hide behind the mechanics of a deeply flawed system.”
Oxygen reached out to Luster’s attorney, but did not receive an immediate response.