Two California parents were arrested after authorities found a dozen children and adults shackled to beds with chains and padlocks in their home, officials said Monday.

The 13 victims held captive in the home in Perris, California range in age from 2 to 29, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.

Authorities started investigating after a 17-year-old girl managed to escape from the residence on Sunday and called 911. The girl claimed her 12 brothers and sisters were being held captive inside the home by her parents, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department said.

Police initially believe the 17-year-old girl who’d escaped was just 10 because she was emaciated.

Sheriff deputies responded and identified the 13 victims. They were “in dark and foul-smelling surroundings,” police said. Deputies initially thought all of the victims were children based on their size and were shocked to discover that seven of them were actually adults, ranging in age from 18 to 29. All of the victims were malnourished and dirty.

The vitims were given food and drinks “after they claimed to be starving,” police said.

David Allen Turpin, 57, and Louise Anna Turpin, 49, face charges of torture and child endangerment. Bail was set at $9 million for each.

“The parents were unable to immediately provide a logical reason why their children were restrained,” officials said.

The six children are being treated at Riverside University Health System Medical Center in Moreno Valley. The seven adults are being treated at Corona Regional Medical Center in Corona, authorities said.</s>A man and a woman have been arrested in California, accused of keeping their children shackled to beds with chains and padlocks in "dark and foul-smelling surroundings."

According to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department, a 17-year-old escaped from the home in Perris early Sunday morning and called 911, telling emergency officials that her parents were holding her 12 siblings captive.

Police said that when officers met with the caller, she "appeared to be only 10 years old and slightly emaciated."

"Further investigation revealed several children shackled to their beds with chains and padlocks in dark and foul-smelling surroundings, but the parents were unable to immediately provide a logical reason why their children were restrained in that manner."

The children, who police say "appeared to be malnourished and very dirty" range in age between two and 29 years old.

"Deputies located what they believed to be 12 children inside the house, but were shocked to discover that seven of them were actually adults," the release said.

"The victims were provided with food and beverages after they claimed to be starving."

David Allen Turpin, 57, and Louise Anna Turpin, 49, were arrested for violating California laws around torture and child endangerment. Both were detained, with bail set at $9 million US each.</s>RIVERSIDE, Calif. (CNN/WRIC) — Two California parents were arrested Monday after authorities found a dozen children and adults chained to beds with chains and padlocks in their home.

Police said they found 13 victims ranging in age from 2 to 29 being held captive in the Perris, California home.

The investigation began after a 17-year-old girl escaped the home Sunday and called 911. The girl told police that her 12 brothers and sisters were also being held captive in the home by their parents.

Deputies responded to the home and found the 13 victims.

Louise Anna Turpin, 49, and David Allen Turpin, 57, now face torture and child endangerment charges. Bail has been set at $9 million per parent.

The sheriff’s office said they believe the children are all their biological children.

The six children are currently being treated at Riverside University Health System Medical Center, while the seven adults are being treated at Corona Regional Medical Center, according to authorities.

Find 8News on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram; send your news tips to iReport8@wric.com.</s>Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Police chief: 'I would call that torture'

Police say 13 siblings who were found malnourished, some of them shackled, in a California home were torture victims.

Riverside County Sheriff's office said the mother was "perplexed" when officers came to rescue the siblings, who are aged two to 29.

Investigators said they had had no previous contacts with the couple, David and Louise Turpin.

Their 17-year-old daughter escaped the home in Perris from a window on Sunday and alerted police.

The 'happy family' charged with torture

Can anyone open a school at home in California?

The teenager was so emaciated that officials said she looked just 10 years old.

Investigators said the unnamed girl had called 911 with a de-activated mobile phone.

She showed officers photos of conditions in the suburban property, 59 miles (95km) south-east of Los Angeles.

Police chief Captain Gregg Fellows told a news conference on Tuesday that three of the children were found shackled inside the home during the raid.

Image copyright Facebook

"Some of our staff described that there was a very foul smell inside the residence," Capt Fellows said.

"It was extremely dirty and as we reported previously many of the children were malnourished."

Mr Turpin, 57, and Mrs Turpin, 49, have been held on charges of torture and child endangerment.

Bail was set at $9m (£6.5m) each.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption A neighbour said the children were always accompanied by the parents

Asked to say more about the torture allegation, Capt Fellows said: "If you can imagine being 17 years old and appearing to be a 10 year old, being chained to a bed and being malnourished and injuries associated with that I would call that torture."

He said investigators have found no evidence of sexual abuse or mental illness at this stage, but added the inquiry was just beginning.

"I can't get into the specific details of the conversation, but it seemed that the mother was perplexed as to why we were at that residence," Capt Fellows told reporters.

Image copyright David-Louise Turpin/Facebook Image caption The couple's Facebook page contains numerous family photos

The Turpins moved into the property in 2014 and apparently schooled their children at home.

Public records show the house is listed in a California education department directory as the location of "Sandcastle Day School", with Mr Turpin named as principal.

It was described in official records as a non-religious and co-ed institution with six students enrolled.

The rescued siblings were taken to local hospitals for treatment.

Mark Uffer, from the Corona Regional Medical Center, told reporters that of the seven adults found, "it's very clear they're suffering malnutrition".

"They are very friendly, very co-operative and they are hopeful that life will get better for them after this event."

Ivan Trahan, a former lawyer for the couple in a 2011 bankruptcy case, told the Los Angeles Times that Mr Turpin had been well paid as an engineer at defence contractor Northrop Grumman.

According to the newspaper, bankruptcy files show Mr Turpin earned more than $140,000 in 2011, but expenses for his large family exceeded his wages by more than $1,000 a month.

Distraught neighbours said that they barely ever saw the family in public, and that they never spoke to nearby residents.

"Why don't we ever see the kids?" neighbour Kimberly Milligan asked.

"In hindsight, we would have never thought this, but there were red flags. You never don't hear or see nine kids."

The children's grandparents said that they had not seen the family for four or five years.

James and Betty Turpin told ABC they were considered a good Christian family in their community and that "God called on them" to have so many children.

The family's Facebook page shows numerous photos and videos of them, apparently happy and smiling. Many posts contain comments from family or friends.

They appear to have renewed their wedding vows several times in recent years, often with their children present.

In a YouTube video, the couple are seen at the Elvis Chapel in Las Vegas.

Repeating after an Elvis impersonator, Mr Turpin tells his wife: "I offer you this ring as a symbol of my love, baby, baby."

The children laugh along with the impersonator, and clap as the couple kisses.</s>A childless NRI couple from the US has adopted a girl and her brother from a home for children in south Gujarat’s Navsari and given them new life and better future. The couple, identified as Arvind Somachi (49) and his wife Jyoti Somachi (43), who have been working as scientists in San Francisco, started the procedure to adopt the children last year.

It took around one year for the couple to clear all procedures with the Central Adoption Research Authority (CARA). The scientist couple were sent a list containing the details of children at various homes for children. Through that list, they selected four-and-a-half-year-old Kinjal and her two-and-a-half-year-old brother Sunil.

After the selection procedures, the couple landed in Mumbai and drove directly to Navsari and reached Khund children’s home in October last year. The couple met the child protection officer, Pritesh Patel, and shared the information, who facilitated the adoption.

Talking to The Indian Express, Arvind Somachi, who hails from Andhra Pradesh, said, “The children’s home officials helped us a lot. After spending a couple of hours with them, we got emotionally attached and we decided to adopt them. We stayed for a couple of more days after taking permission. We took them outside and we all had lunch in a hotel. Both the kids were happy in our company. They liked us a lot.”

Arvind and his wife stayed in India for about a month and had to go back to San Francisco, leaving some pending work in India. After all the procedures were completed, the couple again came back to the children’s home on January 8. There, the officials gave them the custody of the children under “Pre-Adoption Foster Care” the legal procedure is still under way.

Arvind added, “We had been thinking about adoption for the last few years but decided we will adopt two children from India. The final legal procedure is left and will take some more time. Once it is finished, we will become the legal parents of these children. After this, we will go ahead with their passport and visa procedures.” The couple have have now gone to Jyoti’s native place in Bangalore and have taken the children along.

Arvind said, “We will try to fulfill their wishes and make all possible efforts to keep them happy. We don’t know about the background of both these children and only know that their parents died sometime ago.”

Child protection officer at Khund children’s home in Navsari, Pritesh Patel, said, “We got the children from Valsad over a year ago. We have come to know that their parents died and for a few months, their uncle was taking care of them. However, their uncle is also poor and could not afford to raise them. When these children left home, they were caught by police and sent to us. For the last one year, we have been taking care of these children.”

Patel added, “We have seen good intimacy between the kids with their foster parents and that is why we have allowed the couple to take the children with them till the legal process is done from a local court in Navsari, which is mandatory.”

As per the sources in children’s home at Navsari, there are 26 children between 6 to 18 years and 12 children between 0 to 6 years. “This is the third time when the kids from Khund children’s home have been adopted by foreigners. About an year ago, two brothers were adopted by a couple of Spain and a girl child was adopted by a Swedish couple.

For all the latest India News, download Indian Express App</s>Five armed robbers allegedly pounced on a Glen Norah C couple during the night and got away with $37 000 in cash and mobile phones after torturing the couple with a hot iron.

 

 Mikia Pirikisi (31), Tariro Mutsamanye (27), Daniel Munyanyi (40), Gilbert Tavagadza (47) and Leonard Huni (34), allegedly threatened to shoot the couple when they refused to disclose where they kept their money.



The gang used a hot iron to ‘iron’ the couple’s bodies until they gave in to the torture and disclosed where they kept the money. Herald</s>Phagwara (Pb), Jan 13 (PTI) Three people, including a couple, were arrested for allegedly duping a family of Rs 42 lakh, the police said today.

Jagtar Singh, his wife Anju and their relative Ashu allegedly cheated Manminder Singh on the pretext of sending him and his family to Canada, they said, adding the accused failed to do so.

The complainant claimed he had paid Rs 42 lakh to them in installments, they said. PTI CORR CHS DPB .

This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.
A couple in Perris, California is arrested for allegedly holding captive and abusing their 13 children.