A California family has been convicted of abusing foster children, including six Turpin siblings who had already been tortured by their own parents.
Marcelino Olguin, 65, was handcuffed and led by sheriff’s deputies to a courtroom in Riverside after a brief sentencing hearing.
Olguin pleaded guilty in September to lewd acts on a child, false imprisonment and injury to a child, while his wife, Rosa Olguin, and their adult daughter, Lennys, had also previously pleaded guilty to child cruelty.
Each of the women was sentenced to four years of formal probation.
Marcelino Olguín, 65, on the right, was sentenced to seven years in prison, while his daughter, Lennys, and his wife, Rosa, both on the left, were sentenced to four years of formal probation.
Marcelino Olguin, 65, was handcuffed and led by sheriff’s deputies to a courtroom in Riverside after being sentenced Friday to seven years in prison for abusing foster children.
His wife, Rosa Olguin, and adult daughter, Lennys, also pleaded guilty to child cruelty.
Olguín will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. The judge also ordered Olguín not to have contact with any of the nine victims, including the Turpín brothers.
All six of them had done it. They have been placed with the Olguín family at various times starting in 2018. Four were still with the family at the time of their arrest.
Both Marcelino and Rosa cried during their sentencing.
“Today’s sentencing marks a significant step in delivering justice to victims who suffered unimaginable abuse,” Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin said in a statement.
“These children were placed in a position of vulnerability after surviving intense trauma, only to be further exploited by someone entrusted with their care,” the statement reads.
Marcelino, Rosa and Lennys Olguín pictured outside the courthouse in April 2023
Olguín, seen here in 2022, will now spend the next seven years behind bars as part of a guilty plea.
Marcelino and Rosa Olguín appear at their 2021 arraignment on child abuse charges against several foster children in December
‘We are committed to holding accountable those who prey on innocent children. Our office remains steadfast in seeking justice for all victims of abuse and ensuring that those who violate the trust placed in them are held accountable.’
The Olguins’ lawyers said the plea agreement allowed the women to escape prison time.
“My client saved his family,” Paul Grech, Marcelino Olguín’s lawyer, said after the hearing. He declined to discuss the case further.
The Olguín family was tasked with caring for the children after they were rescued from horribly abusive conditions in their parents’ home in the Southern California community of Perris.
Her parents, David and Louise Turpin, pleaded guilty in 2019 to torture and years of abuse that included shackling some of their 13 biological children, starving them and providing them with only a minimal education.
Turpin’s parents were sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years.
On Friday, a lawyer for the victims read in court a statement prepared by one of the Turpin children who had stayed at the Olguin home.
“All I wanted was to finally have a loving family and recover from my trauma, but unfortunately I didn’t get it,” the statement read.
The victim, who was not identified, is still recovering and learning to trust, but forgives the family in an act of faith, according to the statement.
A 2022 report found that the social services system “failed” the Turpin children, who were between the ages of 2 and 29 when they were rescued by authorities from their parents’ home after their 17-year-old sister escaped and called to 911.
“Some of Turpin’s youngest children were placed with caregivers who were later charged with child abuse,” according to the 630-page report. “Some of the older siblings experienced periods of housing instability and food insecurity as they transitioned to independence.”
Ultimately, six of the children were placed with the Olguíns.
Lawyers representing some of the Turpin children filed a civil lawsuit against Riverside County alleging that the Olguins abused minors in their care.
David (left) and Louise Turpin (right) pleaded guilty to 14 counts of torture and other abuse in 2019 and were sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
David Turpin is now in protective custody at Corcoran State Prison. His wife is serving her sentence at the Central California Women’s Prison.
The Turpin family began traveling to Las Vegas and renewed their vows at an Elvis Chapel in 2011, 2013 and 2015.
Deputies testified that the children said they were only allowed to shower once a year.
The couple hit the children in the face with sandals, pulled their hair, forced them to eat their own vomit and made them sit in a circle and recount the trauma they had experienced in their parents’ home, lawyers wrote in the lawsuit. presented in 2022.
The lawsuit, filed against Riverside County and a private foster care agency called ChildNet, also accused Marcelino Olguín of sexual abuse.
The lawsuits allege that the foster agency knew the family was unfit to be foster parents due to “a prior history of abuse and neglect of children who had been placed in its care” and failed to act once they were alerted to the allegations. accusations of abuse.
Kia Feyzjou, who represented Lennys Olguin, said some of the allegations may have been “a little exaggerated,” but winning a case with so much public scrutiny would have been difficult.
Doug Ecks, who represents Rosa Olguín, said his client and her daughter could be seen as enablers, but they did not face abuse charges to the same extent.
“When there was a resolution that didn’t involve custody, it seemed like the best thing for everyone,” Ecks said.
