The great-grandson of cosmetics giant Max Factor – a convicted rapist who has been in prison for 19 years – has been released on parole after prosecutors said he still posed a risk to the public.
Captured and reported by reality TV star Duane “Dog the Bounty Hunter” Chapman, 59-year-old Andrew Luster was convicted of 86 charges, including rape of an unconscious person, sodomy and poisoning in 2003.
At age 40, Luster’s conviction came after a series of sensational events that captivated the nation at the time, including a highly publicized lawsuit in which California prosecutors alleged that the scion took three women to his beachfront house and raped them after spiked their drinks with gamma hydroxybutyrate – or GHB.
Even more amazing was his eventual capture by the bounty hunter, which came after Luster — backed by a $3 million trust fund used to travel and surf Port Ventura’s many beaches — escaped to Mexico while on $1 bail. million was.
Luster, the great-grandson of beauty magnate Max Factor Sr., was arrested in 2000 after a 21-year-old college student told police he raped her. During a search of his home, the police found tapes of Luster attacking sleeping or unconscious women.
Andrew Luster – a convicted rapist who has been in prison for 19 years – has been paroled after prosecutors said he still posed a risk to the public
The 59-year-old scion, photographed in June 2003 after his capture, lured women to his beachside clam schools and raped them after spiked their drinks with gamma hydroxybutyrate – or GHB.
The makeup heir — who witnesses his crimes described as “childlike” — later paid $40 million to two unnamed female victims who won civil suits against him, and has since declared bankruptcy.
He and his legal team had argued that the recorded encounters were consensual. The women who got the $40 million, who were depicted in several sex tapes, testified at Luster’s criminal trial that they willingly drank GHB-laced drinks but never consented to the sexual acts — all of which took place while they were unconscious.
Prosecutors argued that at least Luster’s drug-driven reign of terror lasted 1996 and 2000, when he was in his thirties.
As the proceedings progressed and Luster was controversially granted $1 million bail, the sex fiend fled to Mexico — at which point he came under the radar of Chapman, who at the time was still a year away from catapulting to superstardom with his hit show.
Received tips from various sources, including Luster’s own attorney, Chapman, then 50, spurred the shame scion – who was sentenced in absentia on the run – to the resort town of Puerto Vallarta, on Mexico’s Pacific coast.
Dog’s crew reportedly then got into a scuffle with Luster, eventually overpowering the fugitive, and were able to restrain him and take him to California in a car.
After jumping to Mexico during legal proceedings in 2003, Luster was captured and taken into police hands by reality TV star Duane “Dog the Bounty Hunter” Chapman, who was himself arrested because bounty hunting is illegal in the Central American county.
Chapman, pictured here after Luster’s arrest with half-brother Tim and son Leland, reportedly got into a scuffle with Luster, eventually overpowered the fugitive, and were able to restrain him and drive him to California in a car. before they were stopped by Mexican agents
However, seemingly unbeknownst to the crew, bounty hunting is banned in Mexico – a statute Mexican police officers were quick to point out when they stopped the procession before reaching the border.
During the meeting, both Chapman and Luster were arrested, with the latter extradited to the US and sentenced to 124 years in prison, to be immediately executed.
Luster got the parole hearing after California voters passed controversial Prop 57, which allows parole eligibility for nonviolent felons
However, that sentence was reduced to 50 in 2013 after lawyers for the then 49-year-old appealed the court’s decade-old decision, arguing that it would be reduced to 25 years or less, citing the ” great performance’ by Luster. in jail.
A California judge subsequently granted him a sentencing hearing, on the grounds that the court “failed to provide specific grounds for imposing full consecutive sentences,” as required by law.
Then, in 2016, Luster’s advocacy for freedom became more vocal, after California voters controversial Prop 57 that allows parole to be considered for so-called nonviolent felons.
A loophole also opened the door to reduced prison sentences for felons already incarcerated for violent crimes, with some of the crimes Luster was convicted of now being classified as “non-violent” under the guidelines.
A parole hearing was then held for the embattled scion in December 2022, held on Wednesday, which saw what was likely Luster’s last bid for freedom rejected before spending the remainder of his days in prison.
Dog — whose full name is Duane Chapman — was charged with felony kidnapping for capturing wealthy cosmetics heir Andrew Luster who was on the run in Mexico after posting $1 million bail on multiple charges of drugging and raping three women
During an interview with Larry King in 2006, Dog – who was wanted in Mexico at the time after fleeing the country while out on his own bail — defended his decision to bring Luster to justice for his crimes and recalled how the rapist tried to offer them an alias once they were apprehended.
“He said his name was David Correra. And of course I said hold on a minute,” Chapman recalled. “This is Andrew Stuart Luster, wanted for 86 counts of rape, sentenced to 124 hundred years in prison… of course luster spoke fluent Spanish and told the cops I’m not that guy, blah blah blah.”
Dog’s attorney William Bollard told Larry King, “If they dismiss the case for the best, the case goes away.” At worst, they face trial in Puerto Vallarta on a single charge of deprivation of liberty, which carries a prison term of six months to four years.”
In 2007, Dog evaded extradition to Mexico when a judge eventually dismissed the case.
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