Perris foster parents of tortured Turpin children now convicted for their abuse – San Bernardino Sun

It was a statement that would have served as valid commentary at the 2019 sentencing of David and Louise Turpin, the Perris couple who were sent to prison for 25 years to life for torturing and neglecting 12 of their 13 children:

“I needed love, but found the exact opposite,” one victim said in a court document. “I lived in a place where I felt like I had no voice or freedom.”

Instead, the statement was read on Friday, Oct. 18, in Superior Court in Riverside on behalf of a child — believed to be the Turpins’ — who had been placed in a foster home in Perris with Marcelino, Rosa and Lennys Olguin.

Marcelino Olguin, 65, was sentenced Friday to seven years in prison after pleading guilty to four counts of lewd acts against a child 14 or 15 years old, where the suspect was at least 10 years older; three counts of lewd acts against a child under the age of 14; one count of false imprisonment; and one count of injuring a child.

He must also register as a sex offender.

His wife, Rosa Olguin, 60, was sentenced to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office’s 120-day work release program, four years’ probation and a four-year prison sentence that was suspended after she pleaded guilty to three counts of intentional child abuse and one count of child abuse. each of false imprisonment, intimidating a witness and grand theft.

Their daughter Lennys Olguin, 39, was sentenced to 150 days in the work release program, four years of probation and a four-year suspended sentence following her guilty plea to three counts of intentional child abuse and one count of false imprisonment and intimidating a witness.

Among the dozen or so children the Olguins supposedly gave a new start in life, six were survivors of the Turpins’ troubled home.

The Turpins entered the Perris foster home in April 2018, three months after the 13 Turpin children, ages 2 to 29, were rescued from captivity after someone snuck out of their Perris home and called 911. 3, 2021.

There are clear parallels with the physical and psychological abuse of the children by the Turpin parents and the Olguins.

The Turpins allowed the children to shower only once a year, placed cakes on the counter that they were not allowed to eat, chained them to furniture and fed them so poorly that they became physically and cognitively disabled, prosecutors said.

The Olguins forced the Turpin children to talk about their past. A five-year-old child, according to an arrest warrant investigator’s affidavit, was given sleeping pills and then forced to stand in a small square marked with blue tape, and an Olguin would ring the doorbell, spray her with water and yell at her. to keep her awake.

“All I wanted was to finally have a loving family and recover from my trauma,” that person said in the court document about the Olguins. “But unfortunately I didn’t receive it. I always felt like I was just a problem to the family because of the number of times they were cruel to me and the way I was treated. You have negatively impacted my life more than you will ever know.”

But the person held no grudge: “Jesus teaches us to love and forgive, even when they hurt you. God has shown me what true love is like. He has given me the freedom and peace that has been taken from me all my life.”

None of the Turpins were in the courtroom.

“Today’s sentencing marks an important step in providing justice for the victims who suffered unimaginable abuse,” District Attorney Mike Hestrin said in a statement. “These children were placed in a vulnerable position after surviving intense trauma, only to be further exploited by someone entrusted with their care.”

The Olguins did not speak for Judge Gail O’Rane. While Marcelino Olguin was handcuffed, Rosa and Lennys Olguin choked and put their hands over their mouths. They waved at him as he was led away.

He smiled and nodded at them.

“My client saved his family,” Marcelino Olguin’s lawyer, Paul Grech, said outside the courtroom, but declined to elaborate.

Lennys Olguin’s lawyer, Kia Feyzjou, said all three defendants “had a viable defense” but that it would have been difficult to obtain an acquittal at trial given the publicity the case received.

“I believe the father took on the heavy burden of this resolution, which allowed his wife and daughter to be placed on probation,” Feyzjou said. “It was honorable for Dad to do that.”

Rosa Olguin’s attorney, Doug Ecks, was then asked to explain the dynamics in the Scenic Way home.

“In many situations there are abusers and enablers,” he said.