The Daily Telegraph

Girl held captive with 12 siblings ‘plotted escape for two years’

- By Harriet Alexander and Josh Boswell in Riverside, California

THE father of 13 children held in captivity in California was charged yesterday with carrying out a lewd act against a child, as prosecutor­s said that the 17-year-old who raised the alarm had plotted her escape from their house for two years.

Prosecutor­s detailing the case against David and Louise Turpin, who yesterday appeared before a judge in Riverside, said that the house contained hundreds of journals kept by the children, which they say will be crucial in building a case against the parents.

“We are charging one count of a lewd act,” said Michael Hestrin, Riverside County district attorney. “The charge is a lewd act on a child under 14. We are alleging that Mr Turpin touched one of the children in a lewd way.”

In addition, both Mr Turpin, 57, and his wife, 49, were charged with 12 counts of torture and 12 counts of false imprisonme­nt. Their youngest child, aged two, did not have sufficient injuries to warrant the same charges, prosecutor­s said.

The couple also face seven counts of abuse of a dependent adult and six counts of child abuse.

“This is severe emotional and physical abuse,” said Mr Hestrin, adding that the charges dated back to 2010. “This is depraved conduct.”

Mr and Mrs Turpin yesterday pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The horrific scene was discovered on Sunday when the 17-year-old girl escaped by climbing out a window of the house, in Perris, and calling police from a disconnect­ed mobile phone.

“The 17-year-old had been working on a plan with her sibling to escape the abuse for more than two years,” said Mr Hestrin. “She took her sibling with her through the window, but that sibling became frightened and went back.”

Mr Hestrin alleged that the children, taken to hospital on Sunday after their parents were arrested, were nocturnal – going to sleep around 5am and sleeping all day and then staying awake all night. Their parents would allegedly only let them shower once a year.

Mr Hestrin claimed the Turpins would lock up their children for weeks on end as a “form of punishment”, and left them severely malnourish­ed after feeding them just once a day.

“As a punishment starting many years ago, they began to be tied up, first with ropes,” alleged Mr Hestrin. “One victim was tied up and hog-tied. When that victim was able to escape the ropes, the defendants started using chains and padlocks.

“These punishment­s would last for weeks or even months,” he said. “The victims were often not released from their chains to go to the bathroom.”

Mr Hestrin said all 13 of the children were admitted to hospital with “severe calorie malnutriti­on connected with muscle wasting”.

The oldest child, a 29-year-old woman, weighed just 5st when she was rescued by police.

Doctors said some of the children were suffering from cognitive neuropathy as a result of the abuse, meaning their mental age was much lower than their real age.

Mr Hestrin claimed the children were also subject to “frequent beatings” as punishment for washing.

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