California foster dad of several Turpin children is sentenced to 7 years for child abuse

A California man was sentenced Friday to seven years in prison for abusing foster children he had assigned to care for in his home, including some who had been previously tortured by their parents.

Riverside, California (AP) — A California man was sentenced Friday to seven years in prison for abusing foster children he had assigned to care for in his home, including some who had been previously tortured by their parents. Marcelino Olguin, 65, was handcuffed and led away by sheriff’s deputies in a courtroom in Riverside after a brief sentencing hearing. Olguin previously pleaded guilty to lewd acts on a child, false imprisonment and injuring 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 a significant step in delivering justice to the victims who endured unimaginable abuse,” Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin said in a statement. “These children were placed in a position of vulnerability after surviving intense trauma, only to be further exploited by someone who was entrusted with their care.” Attorneys for the Olguins said the plea arrangement allowed for the women to be spared prison time. “My client saved his family,” Paul Grech, Marcelino Olguin’s lawyer, said after the hearing. He declined to discuss the case 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 that included shackling some of their 13 children and starving them and providing only a minimal education. The Turpin parents were sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years.