Amy Taxin/AP
Of the 13 siblings living at the home in Perris, Calif., officials say six were under the age of 18. The siblings ranged in age from 2 years old to 29, and the daughter who sought help was 17 — though when law enforcement officers met with her, “she appeared to be only 10 years old and slightly emaciated.”
“Deputies, when they arrived inside the house, noticed that the children were malnourished,” Capt. Greg Fellows, commander of the Perris Sheriff’s Station, said at a news conference Tuesday. “It was very dirty, and the conditions were horrific.”
Law enforcement officers arrested their biological parents, David Allen Turpin, 57, and Louise Anna Turpin, 49. Each of the parents has been charged with nine counts of torture and 10 counts of child endangerment. Each is being held on $9 million bail.
“If you can imagine being 17 years old and appearing to be a 10-year-old, being chained to a bed, being malnourished and [having] injuries associated with that — I would call that torture,” Fellows told reporters.
All 13 victims were hospitalized for examinations and treatment. Although the Riverside University Health System declined to describe the minors’ condition, Corona Regional Medical Center CEO Mark Uffer said the seven adults are “stable and they’re being fed.”
“It’s hard to think of them as adults when you first see them because they’re small, and it’s clear they’re malnutritioned,” Uffer said at Tuesday’s news conference.
Fellows explained Tuesday that the parents, who have lived in Perris since approximately 2014, had been home-schooling their children. When confronted by the police Sunday — according to the statement released Monday — “the parents were unable to immediately provide a logical reason why their children were restrained in that manner.”
“It seemed that the mother was perplexed as to why we were at that residence,” Fellows said. He added that law enforcement “had no prior contacts at that residence regarding any allegations of child abuse or neglect.”