Serial Sacramento child rapist David Allen Funston, who was set to be released from a California prison Thursday on elderly parole, is in Placer County custody after prosecutors refiled charges connected to a 1996 case involving a child’s sexual assault in Roseville, state and local authorities said.
Funston, now 64 years old and at the center of a firestorm of protest over his slated release, was returned to local custody on a no-bail warrant, the Placer County District Attorney’s Office said in a Thursday evening statement. He faces arraignment on the 1996 charge early next week in Placer Superior Court.
“When changes in the law put our communities at risk, it is our duty to re-evaluate those cases and act accordingly,” Placer County District Attorney Morgan Gire said in a statement announcing the arrest. “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.”
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials confirmed Funston’s release to Placer custody, and the Sheriff’s Office website showed Funston booked at South Placer Jail in Roseville at 6:16 p.m. Thursday.
“The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) at 7:30 a.m. today turned David Allen Funston over to law enforcement officials as he faces new criminal charges in Placer County,” state corrections officials said in CDCR’s Thursday evening statement. “Funston, 64, was scheduled to be released on parole today,” the statement continued. “However, Placer County issued a new warrant for his arrest and CDCR turned Funston over to law enforcement authorities.”
The charges unveiled Thursday against Funston date back to the alleged 1996 sexual assault of a child in Roseville, district attorney’s officials said.
Investigators were working the Placer County case, district attorney’s officials said Thursday, when Funston was arrested for kidnapping, raping and sexually assaulting eight Sacramento-area children, ranging in age from 3 to 7, in 1995. He lured his young victims with toys, candy and dolls in the attacks in North Highlands, Foothill Farms, Roseville and elsewhere.
Funston was sentenced in 1999 to three life terms in state prison on 16 counts connected to the crimes. He is 27 years into the multiple-life sentence and had been housed at the state prison in Chino before his return to Placer County.
Placer prosecutors did not file separate criminal charges against Funston at the time, believing, officials said Thursday, that “these life sentences ensured the defendant would be removed from society.”
But after the California Board of Parole Hearings granted the former North Highlands man parole suitability in September and reaffirmed its decision to set him free on Feb. 18, Placer authorities refiled the charges. Online court records show a sealed criminal complaint was filed Wednesday with a no-bail felony arrest warrant issued.
David Allen Funston is seen in a photo from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The state Board of Parole Hearings on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026, reaffirmed its decision to grant Funston elderly parole, but on Thursday, Placer County prosecutors announced Funston’s arrest in a 1996 child sexual assault in Roseville. CDCR
California’s elderly parole program originated from a federal court order. In 2014, a three-judge panel directed CDCR to implement a parole process for incarcerated people who were 60 or older and had served at least 25 years.
Prior to Thursday’s arrest, pressure was growing on California parole officials to reconsider the planned release, the exact timing of which had not been publicly announced. Sacramento County Sheriff Jim Cooper, former Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert, lead prosecutor in the Funston case, and the California District Attorneys Association joined Funston’s victims in calling for Funston to remain in prison.
Gov. Gavin Newsom in January requested an en banc hearing of the parole board to “re-review” its decision. Governor’s officials earlier this week said California state law blocked him from overturning the decision of the independent panel.
Placer County prosecutors said Thursday the newly filed charges are in accordance with California’s statute of limitations. Under state law, prosecution for sex crimes against minors can begin any time prior to the victim’s 40th birthday.
Sacramento Sheriff Jim Cooper holds a stack of victim statements during a news conference on Monday at the Sheriff’s office headquarters, about the early release of David Allen Funston, who was convicted of 16 counts of kidnapping and child molestation in 1999. On Thursday, Placer County prosecutors announced Funston’s arrest in a 1996 child sexual assault in Roseville. HECTOR AMEZCUA hamezcua@sacbee.com
Related Stories from Sacramento Bee
.JPG)
The Sacramento Bee
Darrell Smith is a local reporter for The Sacramento Bee. He joined The Bee in 2006 and previously worked at newspapers in Palm Springs, Colorado Springs and Marysville. Smith was born and raised at Beale Air Force Base and lives in Elk Grove.