Turpin kids’ lawyer seeks ‘shocking’ settlement amount from authorities after ‘lightning struck twice in horrific way’
SIX years after the 13 Turpin siblings escaped from their parents’ house of horrors, they are still struggling to adapt to life in the outside world, a lawyer for the siblings says.
Making matters worse for six of the Turpin kids is the “double whammy” of trauma they allegedly suffered after being placed in the care of physically and mentally abusive foster parents after their rescue, attorney Elan Zektser told The U.S. Sun.
“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,” Zektser alleged.
“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.
“And 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.’
“So 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,” he added.
“If you ask me how they’re doing now, from being in those situations, they’re doing fantastic with all things considered. Because if you’re living after those two situations by default you’re doing fantastic.
“Some of them are productive members of their community, but some of them are still struggling greatly.”
Jordan Turpin was 17 years old when she fled her family home in Perris, California, and dialed 911 to report that her parents, David and Louise Turpin, had been violently abusing and starving her and her 12 siblings for years.
Now 23, Jordan escaped via a window in January 2018 and told an emergency operator, “My two little sisters right now are chained up.”
Officers arrived at the filthy home to find two children shackled to a bed and what appeared to be chains dangling from a children’s bunk bed.
Investigators would later discover that the shackles were just the tip of the iceberg; the children were frequently subjected to vicious beatings until they bled, were forbidden to interact with anyone outside the home, were often deprived of water and food, and were restricted to just one shower a year.
At the time, the siblings ranged in age from 2 to 29, with seven of them over the age of 18. However, they were all so malnourished that police initially believed they were all juveniles.
David and Louise Turpin were arrested and later sentenced to life in prison after each pleading guilty to 14 counts of abuse.
All of the Turpin siblings spent weeks in the hospital before six of them were placed by Riverside County and ChildNet into a foster home run by Marcelino Olguin, his wife Rosa, and their daughter, Lennys.
‘HORROR REPEATS ITSELF’
Zektser claims ChildNet knew the Olguins were unfit to be foster parents because of an alleged prior history of abusing and neglecting children placed in their care – but those facts were allegedly ignored.
Instead of finding a safe refuge after years of torture, the Turpin siblings were once again subjected to alleged horrific acts of physical and emotional abuse, as well as sexual abuse.
In two lawsuits filed in July 2022, the Olguins were accused of telling the children to kill themselves because they were “unlovable.”
The suits also accuse the family of forcing the siblings to gorge themselves on food until they were sick and then making them eat their own vomit as punishment.
The Olguin family has been charged by police concerning the allegations made in the civil lawsuit.
Marcelino Olguin was arrested in January 2021 and hit with 13 charges, including three counts of performing a lewd act with a child under 14, four counts of performing a lewd act with a child aged 14/15, and multiple counts of willful child cruelty.
His wife, Rosa, and daughter, Lennys, were accused of aiding his alleged reign of terror and have both been charged with several counts of willful child cruelty, witness intimidation, and fraud.
All three of the defendants have pleaded not guilty to all charges and the criminal case against them is still pending.
In the meantime, Zektser said he is pushing for a huge settlement with Riverside County and ChildNet for the role they played in placing the Turpin kids in the Olguin family’s care.
Across the span of his 20-year career, Zektser said he’s never seen lighting strike twice in such a horrifying way.
“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,” said the lawyer.
“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.”
SEEKING ‘SHOCKING’ SETTLEMENT
Zektser said that some of the siblings are in “serious trouble” in terms of their lack of adjustment to the outside world.
Today, more than six years on, some of the Turpins are still profoundly struggling to find self-value.
“In dealing with this kind of trauma, people deal with it differently and not everybody can go to a counselor and just get better,” he explained.
“The hard thing for me is watching all of them struggling to have any kind of self-vale – I think that’s the hardest thing for them.
“No matter what you see on social media, having some sense of self-value is probably the most difficult thing because then everything stems from that, thinking you’re worthy.
“For us, when we say stuff like that, it’s thinking you’re worthy of a relationship, or a job, but for the Turpins they wonder if they’re even worthy to have lunch.
“They struggle to feel worthy of even the most fundamental human necessities. ‘Should I eat lunch today? Am I being selfish for eating more than I used to?’
“These are the questions they’re forced to ask themselves and it’s so sad.
“And then all this stuff was compounded in the foster home. It’s really just shocking and upsetting.”
Zektser declined to comment on a specific figure he’s seeking in the suit against Riverside County and ChildNet.
However, he said the sum would have to be a “shocking” amount to compensate his clients for the shocking abuse they were allegedly subjected to.
“The best way to effectuate change is through the pocketbook. I really believe that I’ve seen it firsthand,” he said.
“And so you know when a county is hit with a giant lawsuit and has to pay a substantial amount of money they don’t want to have to do that again.
“Whether they all say they care for kids or they don’t care for kids, I know what they do care about and that is their financial status.
“[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.”
Zektser continued,” I have personally never seen such a high-profile ball drop in my life.
“I’ve never seen such high-profile, fragile individuals who escaped from torture be put into, in some instances, an even worse situation by people who were meant to help them and protect them.
“And my clients are fully ready to go to trial and testify if the county doesn’t come to the table in the right way.”
HIDDEN STRUGGLES
ChildNet and officials with Riverside County have not yet responded to a request for comment.
When the lawsuits were filed in July 2022, ChildNet declined to discuss the specific allegations made by the Turpins.
“At this time, our organization is not at liberty to disclose facts or discuss the allegations made in the complaint. We look forward to providing the facts at the appropriate time in court,” the agency said.
“Our agency has been serving California’s most vulnerable, traumatized youth for over 50 years. We have a strong track record of providing excellent care and continue to demonstrate our commitment to these children.
“We deeply care about the safety and wellbeing of every single child under our care. Our hearts go out to the Turpin siblings. Any instance when a child is harmed is heartbreaking.
“We continue to evaluate our practices with a critical eye and are committed to understanding and addressing the root cause. This includes expanding the availability of quality and safe placements for all children in foster care.”
Jordan and her sister Jennifer, who is the eldest of the Turpin siblings, did not return a request for comment on this story.
Both of the women have built substantial followings on social media, and Jordan penned a modeling contract with a top agency in 2023.
Jennifer, meanwhile, has aspirations to become a nurse and is currently working full-time.
Zektser said he is incredibly proud of the strides the two women have made over the last few years but knows the challenges they face in their day-to-day lives.
Speaking about Jordan specifically, he added, “There’s this image that people want to see of them, ‘Oh, looks at this hero, look at this champion, look how strong she is.’
“And well all know social media can be pretty fraudulent. If you look at Jordan for example, she’s dancing all the time on TikTok, and she has a big following, but you only get a glimpse of her 15 seconds of dancing.
“Things get a lot darker after that […] she’s still very much troubled by everything that has happened. These things don’t just go away.
“But don’t get me wrong, Jordan is a special girl. She’s a very look-on-the-bright-side type, she finds positivity in a lot of things that I’d never be able to. I really admire her.
“But you know, it’s impossible not to be traumatized. And to have anxiety or depression or other psychological issues due to what they went through.
“The truth is there just is another side of people outside of social media, and I kind of just leave it at that.”