A serial rapist who was originally sentenced to 124 years for his crimes on the South Coast has been released from prison after serving half of his sentence.
Andrew Luster drugged and raped his victims after luring them back to his Mussel Shoals home and was jailed in 2003.
Luster was repeatedly denied parole, but under state law, his sentence was halved for good behavior credits.
"He rendered all of us completely unconscious, like into a comatose state," said one of the survivors of his crimes — who does not want to use her name.
She added that she feels let down by the release after he served just 20 years of his much lengthier sentence.
"The fact that he is out almost diminishes the severity of what he did to us. I feel like I can't really do or say much because I don't want to put my family in any danger," she said. "Or myself, you know."
Luster, heir to the Max Factor cosmetics fortune, is believed to be living in the San Gabriel Valley following his release from prison.
He was eligible for good behavior credits because previously, sexual assault involving an intentionally drugged or incapacitated victim was classified as a non-violent crime under California law. Victim advocates successfully campaigned to close the loophole, but it wasn't signed into law until September 2024.
