California Republicans called on Gov. Gavin Newsom to replace the state-appointed commissioners on the Board of Parole after it approved the release of a serial child sex predator and a home invasion rapist.
A quartet of GOP lawmakers in state Sen. Suzette Martinez Valladares and Assemblymembers Jeff Gonzalez, Tri Ta and David Tangipa brought attention to the issue this week by saying the board’s actions reflect on Mr. Newsom, a Democrat, because he chose the commissioners.
“If the governor can sign laws with loopholes and appoint the people who make parole decisions, then it’s his responsibility to step in and right this egregious wrong,” said Ms. Martinez Valladares, who represents a district north of Los Angeles. “He can start by replacing the commissioners who approved [David Allen] Funston’s release with ones who actually care about victims and public safety.”
Funston was serving a life sentence with the possibility of parole after being convicted of kidnapping and molesting eight Sacramento-area children in 1995.
The Board of Parole granted him early release under the state’s Elderly Parole Program, which allows inmates who are at least 50 years old and who have served 20 years of their term to be let out of prison. Funston spent 27 years behind bars.
But as Funston was heading toward release, prosecutors in Placer County filed new kidnapping and molestation charges against the predator in connection to a 1996 case.
The district attorney’s office said they waited to file charges in the attack on the child, who was under 10 at the time, because they believed his life sentences would have been upheld.
A judge ordered Funston, 64, to remain at the Placer County jail following his initial hearing last month. He faces up to eight years behind bars if convicted.
The Board of Parole also granted release to Roberto Detrinidad, who was convicted of a 2013 rape in which he broke into a woman’s San Francisco apartment and sodomized the victim.
Detrinidad, who is HIV positive, discussed the rape in detail at his January parole board hearing.
He said he spotted the woman coming home from her bartending shift early on Aug. 8, 2013.
Detrinidad said he used a piece of plastic to break into the front gate, then used a tongue depressor to open the main door into the building.
He went up to the victim’s third-floor apartment, which was unlocked, and assaulted her. The rapist admitted that he thought he could get away with the attack.
“This was like my Super Bowl of crime that night,” Detrinidad told the board. “This was gonna be the thing that made me finally feel like a man.”
Detrinidad was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole on rape and burglary charges, and now he could be released from San Quentin State Prison as soon as May. He has spent 11 years in prison.
The victim moved out of San Francisco because she said she feared for her safety. She previously told the parole board that she doesn’t believe her attacker has any remorse for his actions, despite what he might tell commissioners.
Prosecutors who attended the hearing also urged the board to not grant Detrinidad parole.
But Commissioner Michael Ruff, whom Mr. Newsom reappointed to the board in 2023, ruled that the rapist “does not pose an unreasonable risk to public safety” and approved his release.
Mr. Newsom’s office said last month that he does not have the authority to overrule parole board rulings except in cases of murder. All the governor can do is ask the board to revisit its decisions, which he said he didn’t agree with.
“It’s up to Governor Newsom to take action and remove those parole members who put the community at risk,” Mr. Tangipa told Fresno’s KMPH-TV. “We are recognizing that Governor Newsom himself is signing off on letting predators and sexually violent criminals into our streets again.”
