Controversial Parole Decision: California Serial Child Rapist with Recent Pedophilic Fantasies Released

A California man, previously convicted of child rape, was poised for release this week after being controversially granted parole. During the parole hearing, he admitted to having inappropriate sexual thoughts about children as late as 2021, according to the hearing’s transcript.

David Allen Funston, aged 64, faced arrest once more following the issuance of a new warrant in Placer County, as confirmed by state officials, despite being scheduled for release.

The decision by the state Board of Parole to potentially release Funston stirred significant public outrage and criticism directed at Governor Gavin Newsom. The hearing explored Funston’s extensive criminal record, his diagnosis of pedophilic disorder, and the childhood traumas he cites as the root of his past actions.

Funston, a convicted child predator from Sacramento County, was found guilty in 1999 of numerous kidnapping and child molestation charges. He confessed to harboring fantasies about children up until 2021.

“I was so indifferent that I, unfortunately, didn’t care about those I harmed in my pursuit of satisfying deviant sexual desires,” he admitted. “That was my reality 30 years ago.”

“I had this fantasy in my mind that of how this would encounter would go, that fantasy would be, that they would be a willing partner… And so when the children did not respond in the way I wanted… I became angry. Um, and I lashed out in that anger,” he added. 

During a Sept. 24, 2025 parole hearing, Funston, who was serving a life sentence for his 1999 conviction of the kidnapping and child molestation involving multiple victims, told the panel that as recently as 2021, he still had repeated fantasies of an eight-year-old girl who used to live across the street from him.

He also admitted to raping a little boy because he was “vulnerable and available” and says he targeted children because he enjoyed the power he had over them. 

When asked about what triggered his fantasies, Funston said it could have been “a picture of an adult woman, and that would be triggering to me,” as well as “reading the pedophilic stories that my father had.”

Funston traced his desire for “adrenaline fueled sex” back to his childhood. He said that looking at his father’s pornography or molesting his half-sister involved an element of risk because he would be punished if caught, which created a thrill.

He stated that his assault on a four-year-old boy was driven by a desire for power, control, rather than actual sexual attraction.

A May 2022 parole hearing transcript was also disturbing, with Funston admitting to having had incestuous sexual fantasies about his own young daughter. He also described how he chose his first victim. 

“For the first victim, Ms. Lily I., I was in Sacramento looking for a place to rent and I saw this young child that was hung up on a fence and I, you know, realized this was an opportunity to act on my fantasies,” he said. “And so I regrettably I acted on that, that fantasy.”

A prison fence at the California Institution for Men in Chino is shown alongside a mugshot of David Allen Funston, who was granted parole under California’s elderly parole program. (Photo by Ann Johansson/Corbis via Getty Images/X/@sacsheriff)

On Jan. 9, Newsom referred the case back to the Board of Parole Hearings for an en banc review, in which a majority of appointed commissioners reconsider the prior parole decision. On Feb. 18, 2026, the board reaffirmed its recommendation that Funston receive parole.

Funston was slated to be released, but Placer County authorities have accused him of kidnapping and molesting a child in Roseville in 1996. The Placer County District Attorney’s Office said it refiled charges against Funston stemming from the 1996 case within the state’s statute of limitations.

“After learning of inmate Funston’s imminent release, the Sacramento DA’s office began to assess other options to protect public safety,” the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office told Fox News Digital on Friday. “On Monday, February 23rd our office sent requests to both the Governor and Secretary of the Department of Corrections to review or rescind this grant of parole.”

“Additionally, our office immediately reached out to Placer County and notified them that a child molestation case in their jurisdiction that occurred in 1996 was still within the statute of limitations,” the statement continued. 

Funston blamed his mother for a genital birth defect and his stepmother for neglect and emotional abuse as a child. 

“I blamed my mother for the fact that I was born prematurely,” he said. “I thought, well, maybe she was using drugs or maybe she was drinking, or maybe there was something she did that caused my birth defect with my distorted thinking at that time, I did in fact blame my mom, um, for my birth defect, I did.”

He noted that he stated worked on analyzing “my own feelings of shame and my own feelings of inadequacy all led to that, how my blaming, um, women for my failures,

During the September hearing, the two Parole Board members commended Funston for his “urge control plan” as part of the reason they approved his early release.

“You have a – a really good developed urge control plan,” said Presiding Commissioner Patricia Cassady. “You have steps that you take, you practice it every day so that it’ll be second nature to you if the, um, high risk – high risk, um, situation develops.”

Funston freely admitted to still being attracted to young girls. 

“Are you still attracted to female children?” Cassady asked. 

“Um, yes, I am,” Funston replied. 

“Do you want to say yes or no? Okay,” she asked again. 

“Yes,” he responded. 

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