Serial Child Molester Rearrested After Being Granted Early Parole From Prison

CHINO, CA — A serial child molester and kidnapper who was paroled early last week from the California Institution for Men in Chino was immediately rearrested before he could reenter society.

David Allen Funston, 64, was scheduled for release on Thursday, but authorities in Placer County issued a new warrant for his arrest. State prison officials handed Funston over at 7:30 a.m. that morning.

He is now being held without bail in a Placer County jail, accused of lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14 years of age. The charge stems from the alleged 1996 sexual assault of a youngster in the city of Roseville near Sacramento. Jail records show Funston is scheduled to be arraigned Monday afternoon.

At the time of the original Placer County investigation, Funston was already convicted in Sacramento County and sentenced to three life terms in prison for his crimes against very young children.

Because the life sentences were supposed to ensure that Funston would remain behind bars until he died, the Placer County District Attorney’s Office did not pursue a separate prosecution at the time.

That logic changed when Funston received a reprieve following a Feb. 18 Board of Parole Hearing, which affirmed a parole recommendation that was issued last September.

Funston was convicted in 1999 of 16 counts of kidnapping and child molestation stemming from grisly cases in the Sacramento suburbs. Court proceedings showed Funston used candy and toys to lure very young children to his vehicle so that he could kidnap and sexually assault them.

During his trial in Sacramento County that led to his 1999 conviction, seven girls and one boy — all of whom were under the age of 7 when they were victimized — testified against Funston, according to reporting from the Sacramento Bee.

A recent Los Angeles Times article recounted graphic details of Funston's crimes. In one 1995 horrific incident, prosecutors said Funston used candy to lure a 5-year-old girl into his car in Highland Hills, then took her up into the hills and assaulted her.

"He beat her. He took her underwear and shoved it down her throat because she was screaming. He then raped her to the point that she has vaginal trauma," former Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert — who prosecuted the California case against Funston — told the Times.

The child was dumped on the side of Highway 50, where she was found crying and walking barefoot, according to Schubert.

Another victim was 4 years old when Funston used a Barbie doll to lure her into his vehicle in 1995. He then took her to a house, bathed with her, put her on a bed, held a knife to her throat and threatened to kill her if she told her family. He performed multiple sex acts on her, causing her to bleed, the Times reported.

"He shouldn’t be breathing the same air that we’re breathing at all," the victim told the Times. "I disagree with him getting paroled out because he’s a horrible person. That man is a monster."

Before the Northern California cases, Funston had been convicted of sexually assaulting a woman in Colorado.

Schubert pressed to block Funston's early prison release. She told the Times, "A lot of people get out of prison and I don’t scream about it, but this is one I’m screaming about."

Schubert is familiar with the most heinous criminal acts. She worked on the case against Joseph James DeAngelo — also known as the Golden State Killer. DeAngelo, a former police officer, committed 13 murders and numerous rapes and burglaries across California between 1974 and 1986.

Though that case attracted national attention, Funston's really unsettled Schubert.

"It was the worst child sexual predator [case] I’ve ever prosecuted, hands down," she said.

Under California’s elderly parole program, inmates are generally eligible for a parole suitability hearing if they are over 50 years old and have been incarcerated for at least 20 continuous years. Funston was initially denied elderly parole at a May 2022 hearing, but was granted it in September.

“To be clear, this individual was previously sentenced to multiple life terms for extremely heinous crimes,” said Placer County District Attorney Morgan Gire. “However, subsequent changes in state law and recent parole board failures have altered the practical effect of those life sentences for the victims and communities at large. When changes in the law put our communities at risk, it is our duty to re-evaluate those cases and act accordingly. David Allen Funston committed very real crimes against a Placer County child, and the statute of limitations allows us to hold him accountable for those crimes.”