Outrage builds as serial rapist and heir to cosmetics fortune is freed

The recent release of a serial rapist who drugged young women in college bars during the late 1990s is garnering outrage in the San Gabriel Valley community where the man, who is an heir to a cosmetics fortune, is reportedly residing.

Andrew Stuart Luster, the great-grandson of Max Factor, was convicted in 2003 on 86 felony counts of poisoning, rape, sodomy and oral copulation of unconscious victims. A jury viewed video he made of himself engaging in sexual acts with women rendered unconscious by GHB, the so-called date-rape drug.

Glendora Mayor David Fredendall said in a Friday statement that his community was “outraged” at Luster’s release, which he attributed to California voter-approved laws making it easier for those convicted of nonviolent felonies to be released early.

“The people of Glendora should not have to worry about their safety because of a decision by the State that allows an individual with a history of rape and violence to now live in close proximity to schools, parks, playgrounds, churches, and community centers. They deserve better than explanations that hide behind the mechanics of a deeply flawed system,” Fredenall said in the news release.

Luster’s case gained major media attention when he fled to Mexico in 2003 after paying $1 million in bail. He was later captured in Puerto Vallarta by American bounty hunter and reality TV personality Duane “Dog” Chapman.

Luster, 62, was released to parole supervision on Oct. 11 “after serving his full sentence as required by law,” according to a statement from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation last week. The department said Luster was eligible for and accumulated 977 days of work time and good conduct credit toward his release.

“This is not an early release,” the department said.

Luster’s crime, the rape of an unconscious person, technically qualifies as a nonviolent offense, the Ventura County district attorney’s office explained to KCLU in 2023.

Typically, those convicted of a nonviolent felony must serve 50% of their sentence. Luster was sentenced to 124 years in prison in 2003; however, in 2013 that sentence was reduced to 50 years. He has since served about 25 of those years, including time spent under house arrest and in pretrial custody.

A corrections department board two years ago moved to grant Luster’s early release on parole, over the objections of all three victims, who appeared at the hearing and spoke against a release. Prosecutors with the Ventura County district attorney’s office challenged the move, arguing Luster continued to misrepresent the nature of his crimes and remained a threat to public safety. The decision was subsequently reversed by a majority of parole board commissioners.

Ventura County Dist. Atty. Erik Nasarenko said last year that his office would “continue to strenuously oppose any early release from state prison.” But his office pointed out that, because Luster’s sentence had been reduced despite prosecutors’ “vehement opposition,” Luster would be released regardless in late 2026.

When Judge Kathryne Ann Stoltz vacated Luster’s 124-year sentence in 2013, she expressed skepticism about most of the arguments made by Luster’s attorneys in more than a week of hearings, but agreed his sentence was unusually long and needed to be reconsidered, according to archival coverage from The Times.

Stolz called the crime tapes from his trial “disturbing,” with victims appearing lifeless. Luster “leers, grins and gloats for the camera,” she wrote. She pointed out that while he was a fugitive in Mexico, he compiled what he called a “payback list” with names of Ventura County prosecutors, sheriff’s deputies, his victims and one of his attorneys.

His attorneys had argued that the escape was instigated by a former Luster attorney who frightened him into running for his life, repeatedly telling him he’d be killed in prison. But in her ruling, Stoltz made clear she felt his departure to Mexico was voluntary.

Voter-approved law Proposition 57 passed in 2016 and was intended to address overcrowding in state prisons. Under the law, state corrections officials gained new authority to award sentencing credits to reduce the amount of time that people spend in prison and allow nonviolent offenders to go before the parole board more frequently, among other changes.

Times staff writer Clara Harter contributed to this report.