A California man convicted of kidnapping and sexually assaulting eight young children in the mid-1990s has been granted parole after serving 27 years in prison, despite receiving three consecutive life sentences intended to keep him behind bars permanently.
David Allen Funston, 64, was convicted in 1999 of 16 counts of kidnapping and child molestation for crimes committed across the Sacramento region between 1995 and 1996. A Sacramento County Superior Court judge at the time described him as “the monster parents fear the most.” Now, victims, former prosecutors, and law enforcement officials are speaking out in outrage over his impending release.
According to the Sacramento Bee, Funston cruised Sacramento-area streets in 1995, luring children into his car with toys, dolls, and candy. He raped and beat the children, ages three to seven, in his vehicle and at a home before dumping them along roadsides in the Sacramento region. Detectives linked him to the crimes through eyewitness identifications and DNA evidence. His eight victims included seven girls and one boy…