Sacramento County officials criticize the parole board after convicted child molester Gregory Lee Vogelsang is granted parole.

SACRAMENTO, Calif — Sacramento County law enforcement is again criticizing the elderly parole process after the Board of Parole Hearings granted parole for a convicted child molester after serving 27 years of his over 355-year sentence.

Gregory Vogelsang, 56, was sentenced to prison for almost 30 counts of kidnapping and sex crimes against multiple children between the ages of 5 and 11 in the 1990s, according to Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho. He was sentenced to 355 years to life in prison.

On Nov. 4, 2025, the parole board granted Vogelsang parole at a subsequent parole hearing. He was denied parole at his initial hearing in 2022.

According to Ho, Vogelsang had a risk assessment that was above average for reoffending. “This inmate will molest again, and yet this parole board is letting him out,” Ho said.

He was eligible under the elderly parole program, which makes inmates eligible for parole if they are 50 or older and have served  20 consecutive years. 

“(Vogelsang) was sentenced to over 350 years, how’s he getting out early? How do you reconcile that?” Sheriff Jim Cooper said.

The district attorney and the sheriff’s office are both calling for action in the state legislature to change the elderly parole program, as this is the second time in weeks they’ve called for change after a sexually violent predator was granted parole through the program

Last month, they called for change after convicted child molester David Allen Funston was granted parole. He was scheduled for release, but was arrested on new charges in Placer County.

“The parole board is letting us down; they are horrible,” Cooper said. “After this case and the Funston case, they need to be gone, period.”

The district attorney said his office has asked the parole board to re-review the decision for Vogelsang’s parole. That hearing will be held on March 18th.

WATCH MORE: Convicted sex offender David Allen Funston pleads not guilty to new Placer County charge

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