By Dean Maddox, Public Safety & Crime Reporter

Two high-profile child sex predators walked out of state prison this year under California’s elderly parole program, and suddenly some Sacramento Democrats are sounding a lot tougher on public safety.

David Allen Funston, convicted in 1999 of kidnapping and molesting multiple children under age 7 in the Sacramento suburbs, was granted elderly parole in February at age 64. He is serving three life sentences. Gregory Vogelsang, a sexually violent predator who molested at least six boys ages 5 to 11 in Citrus Heights between 1995 and 1997, received parole in March despite a psychological evaluation showing he remained a greater risk to the public than 80 percent of other sex offenders and admitted to fantasizing about young boys as recently as 2020. He had been sentenced to more than 350 years.

Both releases came under Proposition 57, the 2016 ballot measure sold to voters as a way to give early parole to non-violent juvenile offenders. The law’s elderly parole provisions were later expanded, lowering the eligibility age to 50 and time served to 20 years, without carving out violent or sexual offenders. Sacramento County Sheriff Jim Cooper called it a loophole nobody saw coming.

“Voters were duped,” Cooper said at a March 25 press conference announcing his ballot initiative, “Protect Our Kids: Reform Prop. 57.” The measure would bar sexually violent predators from elderly parole eligibility and tighten the program overall. Cooper, a former Assembly member elected sheriff in 2022, said the parole board’s decisions have put neighborhoods at risk.

In response, Democratic Assemblymember Stephanie Nguyen of Elk Grove introduced Assembly Bill 2727. The bill would raise the elderly parole eligibility age from 50 to 65 for those convicted of violent sexual crimes and make certain serious sex offenses, like aggravated sexual assault of a child, completely ineligible. It also requires a screening by the Department of State Hospitals.

The Assembly Public Safety Committee advanced the bill on April 7 with bipartisan support. Nguyen said the goal is simple: protect children after the Funston and Vogelsang cases sparked public outrage.

But critics say the move looks more like political damage control than real reform. Even as crime statistics show improvement, Sacramento Police Department data released in January reported a 12 percent drop in overall crime from 2024 to 2025, including a 10.4 percent decline in violent crime and a nearly 7 percent drop in homicides, residents in South Sacramento, Arden, and North Highlands still lock their doors tighter at night.

The timing is hard to ignore. With the 2026 gubernatorial race heating up, several prominent Democrats have faced setbacks. Congressman Eric Swalwell, who entered the Democratic primary for governor, dropped out and resigned from Congress this month after multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct and assault. The field is now crowded with candidates including Katie Porter, Tom Steyer, Matt Mahan, and Betty Yee, a mix some local observers are already calling a “clown car.”

Politico noted last week that some Sacramento Democrats are quietly shifting rightward on public safety, introducing their own versions of Republican-backed bills to blunt GOP attacks. Assemblymember Marc Berman, a Democrat, told the outlet he wants to move past the old “Republicans are tough on crime, Democrats are soft” rhetoric.

Yet the core policies that created the revolving door remain largely untouched. Prop. 57 still gives the parole board wide latitude. Early-release programs for non-violent offenders have expanded under Democratic leadership for years. And while AB 2727 adds guardrails, it does not roll back the broader sentencing reforms that Sheriff Cooper and local law enforcement say have left streets less safe for working families.

Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office data shows the office continues to oppose elderly parole for high-risk inmates, but the state parole board has overridden those objections in multiple cases. Cooper’s ballot measure aims to let voters fix what the Legislature won’t. Signatures are already being gathered.

For families in Citrus Heights, where Vogelsang preyed on children, or the Sacramento suburbs where Funston struck, the message from the parole board was clear: rehabilitation and age can outweigh the harm done. For Sheriff Cooper and the voters he’s courting, that message is no longer acceptable.

The question now is whether Sacramento Democrats’ sudden interest in parole reform is a genuine policy shift, or just smart politics in an election year when crime, even if statistically down, still feels too close to home.