RIVERSIDE, California — A California man was sentenced Friday to seven years in prison for abusing foster children he was forced to care for in his home, including some 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 earlier pleaded guilty to lewd acts against a child, false imprisonment and injuring a child, while his wife, Rosa, and adult daughter, Lennys, pleaded guilty to child abuse. The women were each sentenced to four years of formal probation.
“Today’s sentencing marks an important step in providing justice for the victims who suffered unimaginable abuse,” Riverside County District Attorney 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.”
Attorneys for the Olguins said the plea deal allowed the women to avoid 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 horrific conditions of abuse 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 chaining and starving some of their thirteen children, and providing only minimal education. Turpin’s parents were sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years.
On Friday, a victim’s attorney read to the court a statement written by one of the Turpin children who had stayed at the Olguins’ home.
“All I wanted was to finally have a loving family and recover from my trauma, but unfortunately I didn’t get that,” 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.
A report found that the social services system failed the Turpin children, who ranged in age from 2 to 29, when they were rescued from their parents’ home by authorities after their 17-year-old sister escaped and called 911. Ultimately, six of the children were placed with the Olguins.
Attorneys representing some of the Turpin children filed a civil lawsuit 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 made them sit in a circle and talk about the trauma they experienced in their parents’ home, the lawyers wrote in the lawsuit that was filed. 2022. Marcelino Olguin was also accused of sexual abuse in the lawsuit.
Kia Feyzjou, who represented Lennys Olguin, said some of the allegations may have been “a bit exaggerated” but that it would have been difficult to win a case with so much public scrutiny. Doug Ecks, who represented Rosa Olguin, said his client and her daughter may have been seen as enablers, but they were not accused of abuse to the same extent.
“When a resolution came that did not include custody, it seemed to be in the best interest of everyone,” Ecks said.