Turpin Kids Endured 'Worse' Conditions in Foster Care Than 'House of Horrors' With Parents, Says Lawyer as They Fight for 'Shocking' Settlement
Some of the 13 Turpin kids allegedly lived in "worse" conditions in foster care after being rescued from the "House of Horrors."
Jan. 24 2024, Published 6:30 p.m. ET
Some of the 13 Turpin kids allegedly lived in "worse" conditions in foster care after being rescued from the "House of Horrors" with their sadistic parents, David and Louise Turpin. The children's attorney is now seeking a "shocking" settlement from their providers following allegations six of them were sexually and mentally abused by their foster parents, RadarOnline.com has learned.
“Some of the kids will tell you that what they experienced in the foster home was even worse than what they experienced at the hands of their parents,” Elan Zektser, the lawyer, told The Sun, revealing more disturbing details about what several of the siblings endured after escaping their parents' grasp.
The six youngest Turpin kids sued Riverside County in California and a private foster care agency, ChildNet Youth and Family Services, in 2022 after claiming that their foster parents, Marcelino and Rosa Olguin, sexually, emotionally, and physically abused them.
"I cannot fathom how detrimental that is to a human being’s psyche to have to go through something like this once, let alone twice," their lawyer said.
Their foster father (Marcelino) was charged with 13 counts, including a lewd act with a child and willful child cruelty, after being accused of victimizing two of the Turpin children. He was taken into custody in January 2021. His wife (Rosa) and their 37-year-old daughter were also arrested and hit with fraud and witness intimidation charges.
Their father, David Turpin, plead guilty to 14 counts of torture and abuse as they were thrown in foster care.
According to the complaint, Marcelino allegedly sexually abused the kids by “grabbing and fondling their buttocks, legs, and breasts, kissing them on the mouth and making sexually suggestive comments."
The children's lawyer addressed the allegations and revealed more heartbreaking details.
“The thing that kills me most is that when they were in the Turpin home, they were told they didn’t deserve to be like everyone else, that they were bad kids, bad people – that’s what their parents put on them,” Zektser told the outlet.
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Louise (pictured above) and David's 13 kids were found starving, chained, and shackled to their beds in a putrid California home.
"I used to be the head of the sexual assault unit and child molester unit in Riverside County, so I’ve seen the worst of the worst," he explained.
"And to be honest with you I’ve seen worse than what happened at the Turpin home, but I have never in my wildest dreams seen what happened to them once, and then a county and law enforcement get involved and then put them back in the same kind of place for a second time.
"I cannot fathom how detrimental that is to a human being’s psyche to have to go through something like this once, let alone twice."
In the lawsuit, the kids alleged Marcelino would tell them to take their own lives, claiming they were “unlovable.”
“Then the foster family used that against them and compounded those feelings, telling them, ‘No one wants you, look at what your parents did, they were right: you are nothing,’” Zektser said.
As if they hadn't been through enough, the six youngest Turpin kids were allegedly sexually, physically, and mentally abused by their foster dad.
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They also claimed their foster family force-fed them until they threw up before allegedly making them eat the vomit.
“When you have enough people in your life telling you that you are nobody and nothing and don’t deserve what everyone else has in life, it has a profound effect on your psyche,” Zektser stated.
He also claimed the Turpin kids are in "serious trouble" for the real world based on their back-to-back horror stories.
"The best way to effectuate change is through the pocketbook. I really believe that I've seen it firsthand," Zektser added, declining to reveal how much they are asking for but saying the number is "shocking."
"[Any settlement] will be confidential, but in order to compensate these kids and these young adults for what they've been put through, it's going to be a shocking amount because it's shocking what happened to them," the attorney said.
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