Transcript of Foster parents to Turpin children sentenced on child abuse charges

Closure inside a California courtroom for a family that has already been through so much pain and abuse. New details about that house of horrors. Thirteen siblings allegedly held captive there by their parents. My two little sisters right now are chained up. They're chained up? Yes. It was this daring escape from her parents' home that saved the lives of Jordan Turpen and her 12 siblings. But in In a twisted turn of events, this wasn't the end of the abuse for some of the Turpen children. Droved seven years in state prison. Today, the foster family who took in six of the youngest Turpins after they were freed from their abuse of parents, facing their fate for subjecting the children to further horrifying abuse in the foster home where they were supposed to be safe. There is nothing that's not shocking about this case. This case is awful. This is just from one type of long term abuse to another. The Olguins pleading guilty last month to abusing nine of the children in their care, including some of the Turpan children. Taking a plea deal was advantageous for actually both the defendants and the victims in this case.

For the defendants in the case, they have the ability to avoid, at some point, decades of prison. Marcelina Olguin, sentenced to seven years in state prison and a lifetime registration as a convicted sex offender after admitting to seven counts of lewd acts on a minor, inflicting injury on a child and false imprisonment. His wife and adult daughter, sentenced to four years' felony probation and time in a work release program after pleading guilty to multiple charges, including willful child cruelty and false imprisonment. As a part of this conviction, they can't communicate with the victims in this case, and they also, of course, can't be part of the foster care system. After the sentencing, Being the district attorney releasing a statement, writing in part, Today's sentencing marks a significant step in delivering justice to the victims who endured unimaginable abuse. Our office remains steadfast in pursuing justice for all victims of abuse and ensuring that those who violate the trust placed in them are held accountable. The Turban story first captured the nation in 2018, when one of the older siblings of the family, Jordan, escaped from her parents, David and Louise, secretly is barely climbing out her bedroom window.

Hi, what's going on? Okay. I just ran away from home. Okay. And I live in a family of 15. Okay. My two little sisters right now are chained up. They're chained up? Yes. The voice of this teenage girl begging for help, seared into the memory of many. Our parents are abusive. They abuse us. It was one of the most shocking scenes of severe child neglect and abuse ever recorded in America. Hi. Hi. We got a call. Check the book here. Here's your house. Okay. What car did you get? In January of 2018, police body cameras were rolling when authorities responding to that call for help moved in on this middle class home in Riverside County, California, east of Los Angeles, the home of the Turban family. The Sheriff's deputies found a mother and father and 13 children who were living in filth and waste. In 2021, two of the older Turban sisters shared their stories for the first time on national television in an emotional interview with Diane Sawyer. It was a lot of starving, so I have to figure out how to eat. I would either eat ketchup ketchup, or mustard, or ice. Ice, cubes, and ketchup?

Yeah. Jordan was just 17 years old when she escaped her family home and called 911. They hit us. They throw us close They like to throw us across the room. They pull our hair. They yank our hair. I have two... My two little sisters right now are chained up. Okay. How old are you? I'm 17. It was her bravery that saved them all. Some of the children had chain marks on their arms. They found at least one child chained to a bed. All right, let's just go ahead and detain the parents. Jennifer Turpan, the oldest of the children, talked about the physical abuse she overcame at home with her parents. Every day, did you wake up in terror? Yeah. Because I was afraid to do one little thing wrong. If I did one little thing wrong, I was going to be beaten and not just be, like beat till I bled. You okay? You want to take a minute? I want to take a break. Yeah, a little break. I'm sorry. Let's do it. We'll just take a break here. All of us went through a lot, and all of us went through our own things.

And to be honest, not even all of us know every single thing each one of us went through. What's hard to understand is what some of the children say happened after this heartbreaking rescue and after the criminal prosecutions of their parents who eventually pleaded guilty. How do you plead to that charge, sir? Guilty. And are in prison serving 25 years to life. They were hoping to find the safety and happiness they deserved, but that didn't happen when they were placed in the Olguins' home. The Olguins were charged in November of 2021 after a Riverside County Sheriff's investigator found they were abusing the children in their care. In lawsuits filed in 2022, the children state that their county and a private foster care agency placed them in a home, where this time, they had to survive both physical and emotional abuse by their new their caretakers and their adult daughter. The lawyers for the children say that their clients were abused in the foster home for three years until one of the children was old enough to leave and then told this story to a social worker. These vulnerable kids were emotionally abused, and they were physically abused.

Elon Zexer and Roger Booth are lawyers for the six youngest turban children. You'd think with the entire world watching that there would have been extra care, extra exercise to make sure that these kids were being placed in a home that was really an exceptional foster home with a really good track record. Childnet is a private foster care agency that was contracted by Riverside County. And according to the lawsuit, the agency knew that other foster care children who had spent time in that home had allegedly been abused. The county and Child Net have denied each and every allegation against them and did not provide comment on today's sentencing. The lawsuits are trying to get to the bottom of answering how all this occurred. There's also been an outside investigation that Riverside County, California, had put together in order to find out what happened here. Lawyers for the Turpan children say it was like living a nightmare all over again. They're being told they should kill themselves, that no one would love them ever again, that no one does love them. In the complaint, the children say the abuse consisted of hitting them in the face with sandals, pulling their hair, hitting them with a belt, and striking their heads.

Some of the children accused their former foster father of grabbing and fondling them and kissing them on the mouth. Marcelina Olguin admitting to multiple counts of lewd acts as part of the plea deal. They were forced to eat moldy food in this house. After they ate the moldy food, after the kids would throw up from the moldy food, they were then forced to eat their own throw It's just shocking and horrific, and it should have never happened. Today's sentencing closes the door on the criminal charges, but the civil cases against the county and child net are still ongoing. As for the Turban children, almost all of whom are legally now adults, they're just trying to move forward. The hope is that with the years of abuse behind them and financial resources to aid them, that they could put lives together in such a way where they could really move past all the terrible abuse they were forced to suffer, that no child should have to suffer.