Andrew Luster, the Max Factor cosmetics heir sentenced to 124 years for drugging and raping unconscious women, walked out of a California state prison on October 11, 2026, after serving roughly 20 years. He registered at an $800,000 four-bedroom home in Glendora, complete with a pet dog.
Megan’s Law lists that address, and the city says the Glendora Police Department first learned he was there on October 14, when he showed up to register as a sex offender.
In 2003, Luster, the 62-year-old great-grandson of cosmetics pioneer Max Factor, was found guilty on 86 felony counts covering poisoning, rape, sodomy and oral copulation of unconscious victims. Jurors saw footage he’d recorded of himself assaulting women left unconscious by GHB, the so-called date-rape drug.
After posting $1 million in bail, he ran to Mexico in 2003 and was convicted in absentia. That June, bounty hunter Duane “Dog” Chapman tracked him down in Puerto Vallarta.
He was originally sentenced to 124 years. A judge cut that to 50 years at a 2013 resentencing after finding the first court failed to explain its consecutive terms, and credits and sentencing changes brought him to a release date this month.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation says it is “not an early release” and that he served “his full sentence as required by law.”
Local officials don’t see it that way. Mayor David Fredendall called the city “outraged,” noting Luster was freed “after serving only 20 years in prison.”
He said residents “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.”
A 2024 state law reclassified drugging and raping an intoxicated victim as a violent felony, which likely would have kept Luster in prison until at least 2034 had it applied to his case. Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko said the change “comes too late to affect Luster’s sentence.”
Jane Doe No. 3, who dated him for months before learning from police tapes that she’d been drugged and raped the night they met, said it is “very unsettling knowing that he is not behind bars.”
Luster must register as a sex offender for life and will remain on parole supervision for three years.
