A Murrieta jury deliberated less than a day before finding Martin Ancamil guilty of four counts of lewd acts on a minor, three counts of sexual penetration by force or fear, two counts of assault with intent to commit mayhem and one count of forced oral copulation of a child. Jurors acquitted him of four related charges.

The panel went behind closed doors briefly late Monday afternoon following closing arguments in the weeklong trial at the Southwest Justice Center. The jury returned with verdicts early Tuesday afternoon.

Riverside County Superior Court Judge Johnnetta Anderson scheduled a sentencing hearing for April 11.

The defendant is being held without bail at the Byrd Detention Center.

According to a sheriff’s bail-setting declaration filed soon after Ancamil was taken into custody, the victim, identified in court documents only as “M.L.,” informed her family and others in early July 2023 that the defendant had sexually abused her beginning when she was 9 years old. At the time of the revelation she was 14.

Sheriff’s investigators were immediately alerted.

Court records said the series of assaults occurred from November 2017 to June 2023.

In one encounter, “Martin Ancamil put his hand under the girl’s pants and underwear,” the affidavit said.

“The victim woke up to Ancamil touching her (privates) underneath her clothing, and his hand was cold, and it hurt her,” the document stated.

M.L. also said the defendant penetrated her, though not enough to cause injuries, according to the declaration.

“Ancamil is a native of Argentina, lives in his car, has no friends or family here and has an expired (work) visa,” the affidavit said.

According to sheriff’s Sgt. Jeff Reese, deputies tracked him to Cambern Avenue in Lake Elsinore, where he was taken into custody without incident on July 10, 2023.

His specific connection to the victim was not disclosed, and authorities couldn’t confirm how long he had overstayed his visa, remaining in the country illegally.

He has no documented prior felony or misdemeanor convictions in Riverside County.

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A Los Angeles assistant principal was arrested Friday on suspicion of molesting eight young children while working at a Santa Paula elementary school several years ago, authorities said.

David Lane Braff Jr., 42, of Thousand Oaks is accused of molesting eight students ages 6 to 10 in a school office at McKevett Elementary School, where he worked as a counselor from 2015 to 2019, according to the Ventura County district attorney’s office. At the time of his arrest, Braff was an assistant principal and school counselor at Ingenium Charter Middle School in Winnetka, prosecutors said.

He has been charged with 17 felony counts of lewd acts upon a child under 14 years old and will be arraigned Monday in Ventura County Superior Court, prosecutors said.

He is being held in Ventura County jail on $3-million bail, prosecutors said.

“The defendant is alleged to have molested multiple elementary school children over a number of years, shattering the trust placed in him by parents, educators and the public,” Ventura County Dist. Atty. Erik Nasarenko said in a statement. “We intend to vigorously prosecute this case and encourage others to come forward who may have information about additional victims and crimes.”

The district attorney’s office and the Santa Paula Police Department launched an investigation into Braff last month, and that effort continues. Prosecutors believe that Braff has worked at other schools in Southern California and may have been a volunteer for youth organizations.

Anyone who believes they may have been victimized, or who witnessed suspicious conduct, is encouraged to contact Greg Webb, an investigator at the Ventura County district attorney’s office, at (805) 477-1627, regardless of whether the incident occurred in Ventura County.

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“These siblings are extremely relieved the defendants can never do to another child what happened to them,” attorney Elan Zektser said during a briefing outside the Riverside Historic Courthouse Monday. “But now they’re asking, what’s next? Each of them truly wants to see change.”

Zektser represents two of the girls from the Turpin family, while fellow attorney Roger Booth represents four other children — all of whom were placed with Marcelino Camacho Olguin, 65, his wife, Rosa Armida Olguin, 60, and their adult daughter, Lennys Giovanna Olguin, 39, after the victims were rescued from an oft-described “house of horrors” maintained by their parents in 2018.

The Olguins reached plea deals with the D.A.’s office, and on Friday, they were sentenced.

Marcelino Olguin admitted seven counts of lewd acts on a minor and one count of false imprisonment. He received seven years in state prison and was ordered to register as a sex offender for life. His wife admitted three counts of child abuse and one count each of witness intimidation, grand theft and false imprisonment. She received four years’ felony probation. The couple’s daughter admitted three counts of child abuse and one count each of false imprisonment and witness intimidation. She received four years’ probation.

Coordinating with placement agency ChildNet, county Child Protective Services placed the six victims with the Olguins despite complaints of prior abuse in their home, according to the plaintiffs. When CPS agents were alerted to the endangerment of the Turpin children, they failed to act, according to Zektser and Booth.

“The county and ChildNet told them, `Trust us; we got you,”‘ Zektser said. “Then they placed them with child abusers and molesters. I was the head of the sexual assault unit at the (Riverside County) District Attorney’s Office, and I can tell you, prosecutors there are sick and tired of dealing with these cases from CPS.”

The county Executive Office released a statement to City News Service Monday calling the Turpin siblings’ experiences “heartbreaking.”

“We remain committed to their wellbeing and their lifelong journey of healing,” the EO stated. “We appreciate our county and community partners, who collaborate with us to support this family, and every family, with services and resources.”

Zektser said instead of removing the victims from the house to take statements from them in late 2020 and early 2021, the minors were interviewed by agents in front of the defendants, causing them to clam up. It was only when the sheriff’s detective who had investigated the victims’ parents, Tom Salisbury, learned of the abuse allegations against the Olguins that the siblings were interviewed by “professionals,” culminating in a criminal investigation and charges, the attorneys said.

“Salisbury insisted they be removed from that home (in 2021),” Booth said.

Zektser characterized the abuse inflicted by the Olguins as “far greater” than what the victims experienced from their parents.

“They were treated worse than animals,” he said. “The Olguins made them sit in circles, and they would tell them, `No one cares about you. You are nothing.”‘

The attorneys’ consolidated civil complaint recited the following additional acts: “making the plaintiffs sit by themselves, sometimes outside, for many hours at a time”; “making plaintiffs recount, in detail, the horrors that they had experienced while living with their parents”; “verbally abusing plaintiffs, cursing at them, and telling them that they were worthless and should commit suicide”; “forcing them to eat until they began to vomit,” then compelling them “to eat their own vomit.”

Marcelino Olguin also repeatedly groped and kissed two of the girls. Money that was intended for the plaintiffs was sometimes pocketed by the defendants, the attorneys said.

Zektser said while his and Booth’s clients are “content with what happened” in the Olguins’ case, “they are continuously asking what the county is going to do.”

The attorneys said they hoped reforms to the foster care system proposed by former federal Judge Stephen Larson and the county Grand Jury in 2022 would net results.

“Things happen that you don’t know about,” Booth said. “Much of what happens in the system is shrouded in secrecy. There are lots of children being subjected to abuse, and no one knows about it.”

Zektser said if his clients, whose parental mistreatment gained international attention, can end up in conditions like those they encountered in the Olguin home, there’s “a bigger issue” that warrants resolution for the good of all minors in foster care.

“Money changes things,” the attorney said. “We are seeking a confidential amount. These now-young adults, our clients, need help. This (lawsuit) will also hopefully change how these agencies do business.”

A settlement conference is set for January. If there’s no pretrial agreement, the attorneys said they’ll be ready for trial.

County spokeswoman Brooke Federico said ChildNet is no longer utilized by the Department of Public Social Services.

“DPSS continues to address existing placement gaps and expand safe, available placements,” she said. “The county is dedicated to continuous quality improvement, and we are constantly reviewing our practices, procedures and policies. We have implemented many of the Larson report’s recommendations and are in the process of implementing several more.”

Only one of the 13 Turpin children, a girl who’s now 8 years old, remains in foster care. The others are in college, trying to procure employment and find paths forward, Zektser and Booth said.

District Attorney Mike Hestrin and the Larson report acknowledged the Turpin siblings had received some funds from hundreds of thousands of dollars in charitable donations made after they were liberated from their parents’ Muir Woods Road residence. How much of that money remains available has not been divulged.

The victims’ parents, David Turpin, 61, and Louise Turpin, 54, were each sentenced to 25 years to life in state prison in 2019 after admitting child cruelty charges.

They kept some of their children restrained most times of the day, forced them to subsist on peanut butter sandwiches and burritos, made them sleep up to 20 hours daily, and allowed them to shower only once a year. There was also physical abuse that resulted in injuries.

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File #  I231830053

Details:

On July 2, 2023, at 12:39 p.m., the Sheriff’s dispatch center received a call of a domestic incident at a residence in the 400 block of Mistletoe Avenue, in San Jacinto. The caller reported that Brian Eugene Hawkins, a 44-year-old resident of San Jacinto, committed an assault on two children at the location. Investigators from the Hemet-San Jacinto Sheriff’s Station and Special Victims Unit assumed the investigation.

Hawkins was arrested and booked at the Cois Byrd Detention Center. The investigation into this incident is ongoing. Additional information is not available at this time.

Anyone with information on this case is encouraged to call Lead Investigator Ruben Martinez at the Hemet Sheriff’s Station by calling (951) 791-3400.

For media inquiries regarding this incident please contact the Media Information Bureau.

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APNews | Contributed

The social services system “failed” 13 children who were rescued after being starved, shackled and horribly abused by their parents at a Southern California home for years, according to a report released Friday.

Some of the Turpin children of Riverside County, east of Los Angeles, were forced to live with people who were later charged with child abuse and some of the adult siblings struggled to get money for housing and food, according to a 634-page report from a law firm hired by the county to investigate their care.

The shocking abuse in the Turpin home went unnoticed in the community of Perris, about 60 miles (96 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles, until then-17-year-old Jordan Turpin escaped in January 2018 and called police.

When she escaped, Jordan told a sheriff’s deputy that her sisters and brothers, who ranged in age from 2 to 29, had been starved, chained to beds and forced to live in squalor. The children slept during the day, were active a few hours at night and had minimal education.

Their parents, David and Louise Turpin, are serving sentences of 25 years to life in state prison.

Last year, ABC News reported that most of the siblings received poor care after entering the child welfare system.

“They have been victimized again by the system” and were “living in squalor,” Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin said in the ABC documentary.

“They’re living in crime-ridden neighborhoods. There’s money for their education. They can’t access it,” Hestrin said.

After that report aired, Riverside County Executive Officer Jeff Van Wagenen said his office had hired a law firm run by former federal Judge Stephen G. Larson to analyze the services provided and the quality of care they received.

The report, which summarized findings of a months-long investigation, concluded that the county’s social services system was short-staffed and underfunded, leaving workers struggling with high caseloads that made it hard to ensure safety and care “for our most vulnerable populations.” It made several reform recommendations.

“I appreciate the unflinching review and recognition that good people are doing good work,” Van Wagenen said in a county statement. “The recommendations will guide our continuing efforts to improve outcomes in the days, weeks and months to come.”

Many details of what happened to the Turpin children under the county’s care were blacked out in the publicly released version of the report to comply with a court ruling protecting their privacy.

However, the report did say that the county’s public guardian office only recently tried to obtain more than $1 million that was donated on the children’s behalf.

“With respect to the Turpin siblings, we conclude there were many times over the last four years that they received the care they needed from the county. This was not always the case, however, and all too often the social services system failed them,” said a June 24 introductory letter to supervisors that was included in the report.

“Some of the younger Turpin children were placed with caregivers who were later charged with child abuse,” the letter said. “Some of the older siblings experienced periods of housing instability and food insecurity as they transitioned to independence.”

“Many were caught in the middle of confusing and complicated legal proceedings,” the letter said. “When they complained about their circumstances, they often felt frustrated, unheard, and stifled by the system.”

Prosecutors have charged a Perris couple and their adult daughter with abuse. Two of the Turpin girls placed in their foster home were fondled and kissed by the father and other foster children were physically assaulted, county prosecutors have said.

Marcelino Olguin, his wife Rosa and their daughter Lennys have pleaded not guilty to child cruelty and other felony charges.

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The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, April 5th, proclaimed April as National Child Abuse Awareness month as public and private family advocates launched a month of activities aimed at preventing child abuse and neglect. “Abuse and neglect negatively impact the physical health, mental health and overall wellbeing of victims throughout their lives,” said Board Chair and District 5 Supervisor Jeff Hewitt. “We must do all we can do to prevent abuse. An important way is for communities to promote activities and resources that strengthen and support families.” County departments and community partners hosted an awareness event in downtown Riverside on Tuesday. The activities are part of the Pinwheels for Prevention campaign, a national initiative to educate community members, support families and raise funds to prevent child abuse and neglect.

At Tuesday’s event, partners offered families access to support services, including financial, nutrition and behavioral health assistance. Advocates say the support strengthens families and helps prevent a crisis before it starts. Riverside County caseworkers responded to about 25,000 reports of child abuse and neglect last year. Nearly 4 million cases of suspected abuse and neglect are reported nationwide annually.

The Pinwheels for Prevention campaign supports efforts to care for children and families who have experienced abuse and neglect in Riverside County and includes the Riverside County Child Assessment Center (RCCAT) at Riverside University Health System (RUHS) Medical Center. The Center provides trauma-informed care to about 1,400 children in crisis in the nation’s tenth most-populous county. “Often, these children carry guilt and shame because of sexual abuse. In many cases, they’ve suffered at the hands of the person who was supposed to love and protect them the most,” said RCCAT Medical Director Dr. Sophia Grant. “We’re helping to end trauma and begin healing for our most vulnerable children.”

At the county board meeting Tuesday, leaders from the Department of Public Social Services (DPSS), First 5 Riverside County and Hope Collaborative spoke about the power of partnership and the vital role integration plays in helping victims of child abuse. Partners work with law enforcement and private and faith-based organization to provide wrap-around services that promote healing. “Integration is about engaging the entire community to support those who we serve,” said Charity Douglas, assistant director of the Children’s Services Division of DPSS. “It’s not simply about providing services to families, but also including them to ensure their voices are heard.” “Families need connections to thrive,” said Tammi Graham, Executive Director of First 5 Riverside County. “Having support puts prevention into practice and helps children to grow in safe and healthy environments.” County partners are encouraging families and local organizations to display pinwheels to show support for child abuse prevention. The pinwheels represent innocence and the bright future all children deserve. Advocates also encourage community members to promote positive parenting classes and share the warning signs of child abuse and neglect.

Pinwheels for Prevention events are scheduled throughout April, including a public event 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday, April 19 at RUHS Medical Center (26520 Cactus Ave, Moreno Valley).

Rivco.org | Contributed

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On Wednesday, September 15th, 2021, Hemet Investigators received information that a staff member of the San Jacinto Unified School District was implicated in an inappropriate relationship with a minor within the school district. Before any investigation could be conducted, the school district placed the employee on administrative leave. Deputies and Investigators from the San Jacinto station immediately began investigating the case.

On Monday, September 20th, 2021, Damian Huff, a coach and security guard for the San Jacinto Unified School District, was arrested at his home. After being interviewed, he was booked into the county jail for multiple counts of sexual assault.

Anyone with information regarding this investigation is encouraged to contact Investigator Ruben Martinez at the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department – Hemet Station by calling (951) 791-3400.

For media inquiries regarding this incident please contact the Media Information Bureau.

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The investigation began in January 2020 when the 4-year-old victim was admitted into the Loma Linda Medical Center. The victim was treated for life threatening head, face and brain injuries. The victim remains in a nursing facility for long term care.

The yearlong investigation revealed further information indicating the victim’s injuries were a result of physical abuse inflicted while under the care of both suspects. Michael Macliz and Christina Rivera were booked into the Robert Presley Detention Center for torture child endangerment.

Anyone with any information about this incident is encouraged to call Investigator Carlos Topete at the Moreno Valley Sheriff’s Station at 951-486-6700 or the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department at 951-776-1099.

For media inquiries regarding this incident please contact the Media Information Bureau.

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The investigation is currently on-going and no further information will be released at this time. If anyone has information in regards to this incident they are encouraged to call Investigator Roberge at the Southwest Station at 951-696-3000.

Citizens may also submit a tip using the Sheriff’s Crime Tips online form.

For media inquiries regarding this incident please contact the Media Information Bureau.

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Investigators and deputies arrested Mejia at a residence in Moreno Valley. Mejia was processed at the Moreno Valley Sheriff’s Station and subsequently booked into the Robert Presley Detention Center for multiple counts of Sexual Assault with a Child, Sexual Penetration with a Foreign Object, Continual Sexual Abuse of a Child, Oral Copulation, Incest, Possession of Child Pornography and Furnishing of a Controlled Substance to a Child. His bail was set at $2,000,000.

The Moreno Valley Sheriff’s Station will be vigilant in investigating all crimes.  Anyone with additional information regarding this incident is encouraged to call Investigator Theodore Allen at 951-486-6700. The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department would like to remind all citizens to be aware of their surroundings at all times and report any suspicious activity, including any vehicles or persons by calling 911 for emergencies, or calling our dispatch center non-emergency line at (951) 776-1099.

For media inquiries regarding this incident please contact the Media Information Bureau.

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