By admin A California man was sentenced Friday to seven years in prison for abusing the foster children he cared for at his home, including children who had previously been tortured by their parents.
Marcelino Olguin, 65, was handcuffed and led away by sheriff’s deputies in a Riverside courtroom after a brief sentencing hearing.
Olguin previously pleaded guilty to acts of lewdness towards a child, false imprisonment and wounding a child, while his wife Rosa and adult daughter Lennys pleaded guilty to child cruelty.
Each woman was sentenced to four years of formal probation.
Some of the children rescued from the Turpin family later became victims again of Marcelino Olguin. NBC Los Angeles
“Today’s sentencing is a significant step in bringing justice to victims of unimaginable abuse,” Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin said in a statement.
“These children, who had experienced intense trauma, were left in a situation of vulnerability and then further abused by the person entrusted with their care.”
The Olguins’ attorneys said the plea agreement spared the women jail 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 difficult 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 that included tying up some of their 13 children, starving them and providing only a minimal education.
The six Turpin children were placed with the Olguin family. NBC Los Angeles
The Turpin parents were sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years.
On Friday, the victim’s attorney read to the court a statement prepared by one of the Turpin children who stayed at the Olguin home.
“All I wanted was to finally have a loving family and get over the trauma, but unfortunately I didn’t get that,” the statement read.
The victim, who was not named, is still recovering and learning to trust, but in an act of faith he is forgiving his family, the statement said.
The report says the child welfare system failed the Turpin children, who were aged 2 to 29 when authorities rescued them from their parents’ home after their 17-year-old sister ran away and called 911.
Ultimately, six children were placed with the Olguins.
Attorneys representing some of the Turpin children have filed a civil lawsuit against Riverside County, accusing the Olguines of molesting minors in their care.
The couple beat the children in the face with sandals, pulled their hair, forced them to eat their own vomit, and then made them sit in a circle and talk about the trauma they experienced in their parents’ home, lawyers wrote in a lawsuit filed in 2022.
The lawsuit also accused Marcelino Olguin of sexual harassment.
Kia Feyzjou, who represented Lennys Olguin, said some of the allegations may have been “a little exaggerated” but winning the case with so much public scrutiny would be difficult.
Doug Ecks, who represented Rosa Olguin, said his client and her daughter could be seen as helping, but they were not charged with abuse to the same extent.
“When a resolution was passed that didn’t involve child care, it seemed to be in everyone’s best interest,” Ecks said.