Convicted rapist Andrew Luster has been released from prison after serving 20 years of his sentence. Luster drugged and raped multiple victims in Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties more than 20 years ago.
A legal loophole meant that, under state law, Luster’s crimes were not deemed “violent,” making him eligible to earn good-behavior credits in prison and reduce his original 124-year sentence to 50 years, then earn credits to halve that.
"When he was convicted in 2003, and this is really regrettable, but they classified the rape of an unconscious person as a non-violent offense," Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko told KCLU.
Nasarenko and Luster's victims were among advocates for a change to the law, which occurred in 2024, and his crimes now would carry a heavier penalty. A recent change to California law classifies drug-facilitated sexual assaults as violent felonies and requires offenders to serve more of their sentences.
"Unfortunately, it comes too late to affect Luster’s sentence," said Nasarenko. "We can't go back in time, but going forward, if there is a drug-facilitated rape, the rape of an unconscious person, it is subject to a violent felony," he told KCLU.
"Our office fought at every opportunity to preserve Andrew Luster’s original 124-year prison sentence. We believed then, as we do now, that drugging women, raping them, and gloating about the crimes on film requires the strongest of sentences."
Luster, heir to the Max Factor cosmetics fortune, is believed to be living in the San Gabriel Valley following his release from prison. Nasarenko noted that Luster will continue to be on supervised probation, is on the lifetime sex offender registry, and is prohibited from contacting his victims.
