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

Key Points:

• Andrew Stuart Luster, heir to the Max Factor cosmetics fortune, was released on parole after serving about 25 years of a reduced 50-year sentence for drugging and raping unconscious women in the late 1990s, sparking outrage in the San Gabriel Valley community.
• Luster was originally sentenced to 124 years in prison in 2003 for 86 felony counts, including poisoning and rape, but his sentence was reduced in 2013 amid judicial skepticism about the length despite condemning the severity of his crimes.
• The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation stated Luster’s release was not early but due to accumulated credits under laws like Proposition 57, which allows reduced sentences and more frequent parole hearings for nonviolent offenders.
• Glendora Mayor David Fredendall criticized the release, emphasizing public safety concerns given Luster’s proximity to schools and community centers, and highlighted frustrations with state laws permitting early release of serious offenders.
• Prosecutors and victims opposed Luster’s parole, arguing he remains a public safety threat and continues to misrepresent his crimes, but legal and parole board decisions ultimately allowed his release under current sentencing and credit rules.