A California man was sentenced Friday to seven years in prison for abusing foster children in his care at his home, some of whom had previously been tortured by their parents.
Marcelino Olguin, 65, was handcuffed and taken by sheriff’s deputies to a courtroom in Riverside after a brief sentencing hearing. Olguin previously pleaded guilty to lewd acts on a child, false imprisonment and injury to a child, while his wife, Rosa, and adult daughter, Lennys, pleaded guilty to child cruelty. The women were each sentenced to four years of formal probation.
“Today’s sentencing marks an important step in bringing justice to victims who endured unimaginable abuse,” Riverside County Prosecutor 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’ attorneys said the plea deal allowed the women to avoid prison time.
“My client saved his family,” Paul Grech, Marcelino Olguin’s lawyer, said after the hearing. He declined to discuss the matter further.
The Olguin 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. Their parents, David and Louise Turpin, pleaded guilty in 2019 to torture and years of abuse, including shackling some of their 13 children, starving them and providing them with only minimal education. The Turpin parents were sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years.
A report found the social services system failed the Turpin children, aged 2 to 29, when they were rescued by authorities from their parents’ home after their 17-year-old sister escaped and called 911. Eventually, six of the children were placed with the Olguins.
Attorneys representing some of the Turpin children filed a civil suit against Riverside County, alleging the Olguins abused minors in their care. The couple hit the children in the face with sandals, pulled their hair, forced them to eat their own vomit, and forced them to sit in a circle and recount the trauma they experienced at their parents’ home. parents, the lawyers wrote in the complaint filed in 2022. The lawsuit also accused Marcelino Olguin of sexual abuse.
Kia Feyzjou, who represented Lennys Olguin, said some of the allegations may have been “a little exaggerated” but that it would have been difficult to win a case with so much public attention. Doug Ecks, who represented Rosa Olguin, said his client and her daughter could be considered accomplices, but they were not accused of abuse to the same extent.
“When there was a resolution that didn’t involve any custody, it seemed in everyone’s best interest,” Ecks said.
On Friday, the victims’ attorney read in court a prepared statement from one of the Turpin children who had stayed in the Olguin home.
“All I wanted was to finally have a loving family and recover from my trauma, but unfortunately I didn’t get that goal,” the statement said. The victim, who has not been named, is still recovering and learning to trust, but forgives the family in an act of faith, the statement said.
Taxin writes for the Associated Press
