Detective who helped catch serial child rapist gives withering verdict after Newsom’s parole board tried to free predator

A lead detective who helped put serial child molester David Allen Funston behind bars says he never expected to see him get out of prison — and the potential for more child predators getting released on to California’s streets is mind-blowing.

Richard Aromando, a retired Sacramento County sheriff’s detective, told KCRA that he immediately began pulling his old case files after hearing that the state’s Board of Parole Hearings had approved Funston’s release.

“Three life sentences. Did you ever think we would be here talking about this?” KCRA reporter Lysée Mitri asked Aromando.

“No! I took my files out when I first heard about this, and I dusted them off!” he said. “It’s been 30-some odd years.”

Aromondo added, “Why? Three life sentences! What does this tell the victims?”

Funston’s case has sent shockwaves across California, after the serial child molester — all of his victims were younger than seven — was granted release under California’s elderly parole law, which allows inmates 50 or older who have served at least 20 years to be considered for early release. 

A state parole board panel found the 64-year-old no longer posed an unreasonable risk to public safety, clearing the way for his release despite the severity of his crimes.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, who appoints commissioners, asked the parole board to reconsider the decision but they still approved Funston’s reelase.

However, Funston ended up getting transferred to a jail cell after Placer County prosecutors announced new criminal charges stemming from a 1996 molestation case.

At a press event Wednesday focused on financial literacy for women, Newsom said there are “some reforms that we should advance” and he’s “making sure that we know who voted in what direction” on the parole board.

The governor sent Funston’s case to the larger Board of Parole Hearings for another review, which Newsom’s office noted is his only legal remedy.

However, Newsom’s critics have accuse the governor of using is political capital to apply more pressure on commissioners.

“I think there needs to be deeper scrutiny as it relates to violent sexual predators as well,” Newsom said. “So, we’re working with the Legislature and I think there’s real opportunities to advance some of those reforms in this legislative session.”

Aromando was one of the lead detectives in Funston’s case 1995, when a series of incidents involving missing children across the Sacramento area began to raise alarms. 

“After a while, they determined this is not a missing person. This is a kidnapping,” Aromando told KCRA. “We’ve got a pattern going on here.”

The break in the case came when Funston allegedly tried to abduct two young girls — and a neighbor intervened. Funston lured his victims with candy or jewelry before sexually assaulting them. A witness captured his license plate.

“Luckily,” Aromando recalled, “there was a neighbor saying, ‘What are you doing? What are you doing? Who are you?’”

He added, “That’s when we started narrowing down our suspect list to Mr. Funston.”

More than 50 people gathered Wednesday outside the building for state parole hearings in Sacramento as commissioners were set to revisit a November decision granting parole to Gregory Lee Vogelsang, a Roseville man convicted of dozens of child molestation and kidnapping charges.

Many of the Republican legislators and victims’ advocates pinned the blame on Newsom for not taking more forceful steps to intervene.

Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho recently said he had a “list of five other child molesters who are going to be up for parole,” and the law needs urgent modification, according to The Sacramento Bee.

Assemblymember David Tangipa was among those condemning California’s early release policies, which have accelerated parole reviews for violent child predators.

“Let’s sear this into your mind — Charles Manson would be eligible for parole,” Tangipa said, referencing the notorious cult leader responsible for a series of murders. “Jeffrey Epstein would have gotten diversion.”

“That’s how broken this state is.”

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