Perris family believed to be fostering Turpin children pleads not guilty to abuse charges
A Riverside County couple and their adult daughter who are accused of abusing nine children, including some believed to be among the Turpin siblings rescued in 2018 after decades of abuse by their parents, pleaded not guilty to a series of child abuse charges on Friday.
Marcelino Olguin, 63, faces three counts of committing a lewd act on a child under 14 years old, four counts of committing a lewd act on a child 14 to 15 years old when the defendant is 10 or more years older than the victim, one count of inflicting injury on a child, three counts of willful child cruelty and two counts of false imprisonment, according to Riverside County court records.
His wife, 58-year-old Rosa Olguin, faces four counts of willful child cruelty, two counts of false imprisonment, two counts of dissuading a witness, and one count each of inflicting injury on a child and grand theft over $950, court records show.
Their 37-year-old daughter, Lennys Olguin, faces four counts of willful child cruelty, two counts of false imprisonment, and one count each of inflicting injury on a child and dissuading a witness, the records show.
The Olguins’ next court date is a June 6 felony settlement conference, according to the court records.
An attorney representing the adult Turpin siblings could not be reached for comment Friday.
The 13 siblings suffered decades of abuse and were discovered in 2018 after one of the children sneaked out and called 911.
David and Louise Turpin tortured and abused their children, who ranged in age from 2 to 29 at the time. When the children were found in their Perris home, they were severely malnourished, and some showed signs of cognitive impairment and nerve damage.
The sisters will appear in a TV special detailing the abuse they and 10 of their 11 siblings suffered at the hands of their parents.
Their parents were sentenced to life in prison in 2019 for the treatment of their children, and the Turpin siblings have been in the custody of Riverside County’s Public Guardian and Department of Public Social Services since they were rescued.
Court records do not name the victims in the Olguins’ case and do not state whether any of them are members of the Turpin family.
A Riverside County district attorney’s office spokesman said he could not confirm or comment on the victims.
The Press-Enterprise cited an investigator’s affidavit that “seemed to suggest” five of the Turpin children were taken in by the Olguin family in April 2018, three months after they were rescued from their parents’ house.
Last month, a Riverside County judge ordered the unsealing of records related to the county’s care of the siblings.
The decision came after some of the siblings made complaints in a nationally televised interview on ABC last November about their treatment under the county’s conservatorship.
In the interview, the siblings said the county housed them in crime-ridden neighborhoods. They also said they struggled to receive basic food, shelter and transportation, and that they had difficulty accessing the money in a trust fund controlled by the county.
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