Andrew Luster, the Max Factor heir convicted of drugging and raping three women, was released from California state prison on parole.

CDCR is describing a sentence that ran its course under credit rules, not a parole board grant of early release. The district attorney's office fought earlier bids and called letting him out a threat to public safety. The 2003 convictions stand.

Andrew Luster, 62, great-grandson of cosmetics magnate Max Factor, was released from California state prison on parole on Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026, more than 20 years after he was convicted of drugging and raping three women, CBS Los Angeles reported. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said he was released "after serving his full sentence as required by law." CDCR said, "This is not an early release," and explained that under voter-approved propositions, people serving determinate sentences can reduce time through worktime and good-conduct credits. Luster received 977 days of pre-sentence credit and was eligible to earn credits while incarcerated, CDCR said. CBS Los Angeles reported that CDCR said the release was due in part to Proposition 57, the Public Safety and Rehabilitation Act, which California voters approved in 2016. The statement CBS Los Angeles published did not name the prison.

The Ventura County District Attorney's Office said Luster was convicted in 2003 of 86 felonies, including poisoning, rape, sodomy and oral copulation, and was initially sentenced to 124 years in prison, CBS Los Angeles reported. In 2013 a Ventura County judge set aside the sentence. The conviction stood. The sentence was later reduced to 50 years. The district attorney's office said his release was scheduled for no later than Oct. 31, 2026. Crime Talk Network is not naming any of the women.

District Attorney Erik Nasarenko said in 2024 that Luster drugged young women he met primarily in college bars between 1996 and 2000 with GHB, and called releasing him a "grave injustice to the survivors and a threat to public safety," CBS Los Angeles reported. In 2025, Senior Deputy District Attorney Anthony Wold said Luster "remains a highly dangerous sexual predator" and that he should serve his full sentence. Earlier bids for early release, in 2022, 2024 and 2025, were denied or reversed. The district attorney's office said a 2024 panel grant was later reversed by the full parole board.

In 2003, Luster jumped his $1 million bail in the middle of trial and spent about six months on the run before Duane "Dog the Bounty Hunter" Chapman tracked him down in Mexico, CBS Los Angeles reported. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Luster was convicted in 2003, and Sunday's release is parole after that sentence.