Gavin Newsom issued a moratorium on the death penalty to protect killers on death row.
Now a law he signed is letting a convicted child rapist seek early release – for the second time.
And Newsom says his hands are tied.
The Man Who Should Never See Daylight Again
Israel Ceja raped and impregnated his stepdaughter.
She was 11 years old when the abuse began.
A jury convicted him in 2000.
He received a 139-year sentence.
With roughly 20% of that sentence served, a two-commissioner parole board panel granted him early release in January.
Nobody called Roxanne Cruz before that hearing.
Nobody called the Yolo County District Attorney's office that put Ceja away more than two decades ago.
During the hearing, Ceja admitted to commissioners that he still had active sexual fantasies about his victim in prison.
He said he couldn't remember when he'd had his last one – but that he would "pray" for relief.
https://twitter.com/Dapper_Det/status/2047123591515328624?s=20
Cruz heard that and understood exactly what he meant.
"He told you guys right there what he was going to do," Cruz said at a press conference. "That he was going to go out and prey on little kids, not that he was going to be praying to God."
One commissioner told the board they were not "unleashing a dangerous man" to Mexico – and called Ceja an "excellent citizen" there.
A man who raped an 11-year-old girl for years.
An excellent citizen.
The Loophole Newsom Built
California's Elderly Release Program started in 2014 with a simple threshold: 65 years old, 25 years served.
In 2020, Newsom signed an amendment that dropped the age to 50 and the time requirement to 20 years.
Democrats pushed it through as part of a criminal justice package aimed at prison overcrowding.
The law bars three-strike offenders, those serving life without parole, and death row inmates.
It does not bar violent sex offenders.
It does not bar child rapists.
Yolo County District Attorney Jeffrey Reisig has been screaming about this for months.
"Nobody wants this," Reisig told Fox News Digital. "The general public does not want this, and all they're doing is victimizing, re-victimizing the victims and the communities."
Reisig called out Newsom directly – and pointed to his own precedent.
"He could issue a moratorium on any elderly parole releases of child rapists with the stroke of a pen," Reisig said. "He doesn't want to admit that, but he did it for the death penalty. He could do it here."
https://twitter.com/Arkadalo/status/2034435295194562886?s=20
Newsom's office responded that the governor can only reverse parole grants in murder cases.
So Newsom can protect murderers on death row.
He just can't protect little girls from their rapists.
Following pressure from Reisig, Newsom did order an en banc board review that blocked Ceja's January release – but a new hearing has now been scheduled.
Ceja gets another shot.
California Democrats Killed the Fix
California Republicans tried to close this loophole.
State Sen. Roger Niello introduced a measure that would have barred criminals convicted of rape, sodomy, and lewd acts with children from elderly parole eligibility.
The Senate Public Safety Committee killed it this week.
A Democratic state Assembly member introduced a competing bill – Assembly Bill 2727 – that raises the age for sex offenders seeking parole from 50 to 65 and requires a psychological evaluation.
That bill passed committee.
Then Democrats stripped the provision that would have permanently banned violent sex offenders sentenced to life from ever seeking early release.
The final version of the fix isn't a fix.
Ceja is also not alone.
https://twitter.com/BillMelugin_/status/2046261635187179941?s=20
Fox News Digital reported in February that David Allen Funston – convicted in 1999 of kidnapping and molesting at least eight children in Sacramento – was granted parole under the same program.
This is a pattern.
Who Built This System and Why It Matters
Democrats built a system that protects child rapists, killed the bill that would have fixed it, and gutted the one that replaced it.
Every member of the Senate Public Safety Committee who voted down Niello's bill owns what happens next.
Reisig has been doing the job Newsom won't do.
"Step up, protect children," Reisig said. "Stop allowing child rapists to get out early."
Newsom has the California governorship, a national profile, and a 2028 presidential ambition he's barely concealing.
He used executive power to shield death row killers.
He's hiding behind a technicality while a child rapist gets a second hearing.
That's Gavin Newsom's record on children.
Write it down.
Sources:
- Elaine Mallon, "Newsom-backed law lets illegal immigrant child rapist seek early release again as DA urges 'stop the madness'," Fox News Digital, April 24, 2026.
- Fox News Digital, "David Allen Funston granted parole under California's Elderly Parole Program," Fox News Digital, February 2026.
