California’s Elderly Parole Program, bolstered by Governor Gavin Newsom, strikes again, granting freedom to a monster who preyed on children—including his own son—despite chilling admissions in his hearing.
Gregory Lee Vogelsang, 57, convicted of kidnapping and molesting multiple boys aged 5 to 11 in the 1990s, was slammed with a 355 years-to-life sentence. Now, after just 27 years, he’s on the cusp of release, pending a final en banc review on March 18.
In a November parole hearing transcript, Vogelsang detailed how his depravity began with molestation of his own son and another boy in 1995.
This article misses a key disgusting point about VOGELSANG. He started molesting his son and his son’s friend before he kidnapped and raped other little boys. pic.twitter.com/SArrZIqfe0
— Walk Safe (@SacWalkSafe) March 13, 2026
Vogelsang described using grooming tactics on his own child and his young friend, stating he would “act like the greatest father,” and “gain the trust” of the parents of his son’s friend by taking the children “to places like Great America and amusement parks and water parks.”
The sick pedophile admitted starting with the friend before moving onto his own son: “I would invite him over, spend the night. That’s when the pattern started, where I started, every week or every other week I would touch Josh in a sexual manner. It started on his arms, his legs and then it got to his privates. And then after that with my son, I started molesting my son.”
He confessed ongoing urges: “I got to know what the internal triggers and external triggers and what the risky situations and the warning signs are for pedophilia. And, like I said before, when I don’t view a child as a sex object, I don’t want to become aroused, but I know it’s always going to be there.”
Vogelsang, who blames his own abusive childhood for his actions, went on to abuse multiple children over several years.
Investigators found boys’ underwear in his possession, which he kept as mementos for sexual stimulation. Psychological evaluations showed he posed a greater risk than 80% of other sex offenders, and as recently as 2020, he masturbated to fantasies of young boys.
The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office blasted the decision to release Vogelsang, noting “The California Board of Parole Hearings is at it again. They have granted early release via the Elderly Parole program to sexually violent predator Gregory Vogelsang, who molested more than five children in Citrus Heights and was sentenced to over 300 years in prison for his crimes. And he is headed to a neighborhood near you.”
Sacramento officials, including District Attorney Thien Ho and Sheriff Jim Cooper, held a press conference demanding reforms to the program.
This development also echoes the near-release of David Allen Funston, another serial child molester granted parole under the same Newsom-signed law in 2020, which lowers the age threshold to 50 for those serving 20+ years.
Funston’s freedom was thwarted only by new charges from a 1996 assault.
A Sacramento judge labeled Funston “the monster parents fear the most,” yet Newsom’s board pushed ahead. Senate Minority Leader Brian W. Jones said: “He signed the bill that gave a board stacked with his appointees the ability to set free a violent, serial child rapist into the community.”
Former prosecutor Anne Marie Schubert added: “I think the governor owns this. I mean, he signed this law.”
Newsom’s office claims opposition, but critics call it lip service amid surging crime and prison emptying.
Why do Democrats persist in releasing these predators and criminals? From parole leniency to open borders, their policies recycle threats into communities, eroding safety while families pay the price.
Lawmakers now push exclusions for violent offenders, but until reforms stick, California’s streets remain a gamble under Newsom’s rule.
As residents flee the state amid homelessness and crime waves, Newsom’s White House ambitions face scrutiny over this soft-on-crime legacy that endangers the innocent.
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