Newsom Parole Board is About to Free a Child Predator Who Told Them He Still Fantasizes About Victims

California's last serial child predator walked free last month after Gavin Newsom's parole board ignored his three life terms.

Now the same board just did it again.

And this time, the predator told them – right to their faces – that the urge never went away.

Gavin Newsom Signed the Law That Made This Possible

Gregory Lee Vogelsang spent the 1990s hunting boys in the Sacramento suburbs.

Ages five to eleven.

He'd build trust with their parents first.

Sleepovers. Gifts. Outings. Rides to pick out presents.

Then he'd pounce – sometimes in his car, sometimes in a home, sometimes over weeks or months while a boy slept there nearly every weekend because his family trusted Vogelsang completely.

He was convicted on almost 30 felony counts – kidnapping, lewd acts on children, sexual violence.

A judge sentenced him to 355 years to life.

In 2020, Gavin Newsom quietly signed a law dropping the elderly parole eligibility age from 60 to 50, with just 20 years served required – no matter how long the sentence, no matter how violent the crime.

Vogelsang turned 50. He'd served 20 years. He qualified.

The Parole Board Heard His Own Words and Let Him Go Anyway

In November, a three-person California parole board convened to decide whether Vogelsang should walk free.

He sat across from them and told them he still fantasizes about children.

Specifically – about an eight-year-old girl who used to live across the street from him.

He acknowledged the attraction would always be part of him.

The board's own psychological evaluation scored him as more dangerous than four out of five other convicted sex offenders.

The board approved his release.

Sacramento County Sheriff Jim Cooper didn't mince words.

"They shouldn't breathe our air," Cooper said of pedophiles. "They need to be locked away forever for the things they did."

District Attorney Thien Ho was just as blunt: "This inmate will molest again. And yet, this parole board is letting him out."

Ho prosecuted the Golden State Killer – Joseph DeAngelo, caught at 72 still acting on his urges in his jail cell.

"I have video of him in his jail cell looking at a female worker," Ho said, explaining why predators don't simply age out.

The case goes to a full parole board review on March 18. The Sacramento DA and Sheriff are urging residents to show up at 1515 K Street, Suite 550, Sacramento and be heard.

https://twitter.com/sacsheriff/status/2032173504196722857

This Is a Pattern Newsom Owns

This isn't a one-time board mistake.

Last month, David Allen Funston – another serial child predator serving multiple life terms for kidnapping and sexually assaulting children under seven – was also cleared for release under the same Newsom-signed elderly parole law.

The only reason Funston isn't free today is that Placer County prosecutors scrambled to charge him on a cold case warrant before he walked out the door.

Newsom's office has tried to distance the governor from both decisions.

His spokesperson told reporters the governor has referred Vogelsang's case back to the board for review – which is precisely what he did with Funston. The board reaffirmed Funston anyway.

Here's what Newsom's office won't say plainly: under California law, the governor can only reverse a parole grant in murder cases. For child predators, rapists, and kidnappers, he has no veto.

He signed a law creating a pipeline he can't shut off.

California Republican Party Chairwoman Corrin Rankin laid it out directly: "Once again, Gavin Newsom's hand-picked parole board has decided that a monster who preyed on young children deserves freedom after decades behind bars. This insanity must stop now."

State Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones has a bill – SB 286, dubbed "Mary-Bella's Law" after two victims – that would close the loophole for violent sex offenders. For the first time, it cleared the Senate Public Safety Committee unanimously.

Even some California Democrats voted yes.

Proposition 36 passed last November with an overwhelming majority. California voters said enough.

The parole board hasn't gotten the message yet.

Gavin Newsom built the machine. His board is running it. And on March 18, the people of Sacramento get one more chance to tell them – in person – that Gregory Vogelsang belongs in a cell, not a neighborhood.

Sources:

• Ross O'Keefe, "Gavin Newsom's New Law Grants Parole to Pedophile with 300-Year Sentence," New York Post, March 12, 2026.
• "California Lawmakers Demand Reform as Another Serial Child Molester Gets Parole Despite 355-Year Sentence," Fox News, March 12, 2026.
• "Another Inmate Set to Be Released on Parole Through California's Elderly Parole Program," CapRadio, March 12, 2026.
• "Early Release Granted for Another Sexually Violent Predator," Fox40, March 12, 2026.
• "Child Predator Dubbed 'Monster Parents Fear Most' Cleared for Release Through California Parole Program," Fox News, February 2026.
• "Bill to End Elderly Parole for Violent Sex Offenses Clears State Senate Committee," KPBS, April 8, 2025.