After being paroled, Placer DA files charges against David Allen Funston

The Placer County District Attorney's Office has filed charges against David Allen Funston, 64, for violating Penal Code section 288(a), lewd and lascivious acts upon a child. A no-bail warrant was issued, and the defendant is in custody in the Placer County Jail, the DA's Office announced Thursday. The charges stem from the sexual assault of a child in Roseville in 1996. At the time of the original investigation and prosecution, Funston was convicted in Sacramento County and sentenced in 1999 to three life terms in prison with the possibility of parole relating to the sexual abuse of children, including kidnapping and lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14 years of age. In the interest of justice, and because these life sentences ensured the defendant would be removed from society, the DA's Office did not pursue a separate prosecution at that time, according to a press release issued by the Placer County DA's Office on Thursday. However, due to recent developments under California's Elderly Parole Program, the defendant has been released from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), effectively overturning the permanence of the life sentences, according to the Placer DA's Office. Funston was found eligible for parole at his first subsequent suitability hearing before the Board of Parole Hearings on Sept. 24, 2025, according to a CDCR news release Thursday. Funston was eligible for a parole hearing under the statutory Elderly Parole Program, in which a qualified individual's elderly parole eligible date is calculated based on when they turn 50 years old and have served 20 years of continuous incarceration. Funston was admitted to CDCR on May 10, 1999, and most recently was incarcerated at the California Institution for Men in Chino, according to a California Incarcerated Records and Information Search (CIRIS). The Placer DA's Office has refiled the 1996 charges within the statute of limitations for crimes he is accused of committing in Placer County. "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." CDCR confirmed Funston was scheduled to be released on parole Thursday but instead was turned over to law enforcement at 7:30 a.m. due to the new charges issued. Funston is scheduled to be arraigned in the Placer County Superior Court on March 2. According to CIRIS, Funston, in a parole suitability hearing, was denied for three years on May 11, 2022, but 13 months later, on April 14, 2023, an administrative review to advance his parole suitability hearing date was approved. A parole suitability hearing on June 26, 2023, was postponed, and Funston voluntarily waived the right to a hearing for one year on Aug. 31, 2023, and June 19, 2024, before being granted parole on Sept. 24, 2025, according to CIRIS. On Jan. 9, 2026, Gov. Gavin Newsom referred Funston's case for full review by the board, according to CIRIS, and parole was affirmed by the full board on Feb. 18.