A law firm investigating Riverside County’s care of the 13 Turpin siblings has reviewed more than 2,600 documents and interviewed more than 85 people, including two of the siblings, but needs records currently under court seal before its work can be completed, an attorney said Tuesday, March 29.
Following the presentation Tuesday by Hilary Potashner of Larson LLP, the Board of Supervisors expressed frustration at what they said were legal barriers preventing a full accounting of the Turpin children’s care and improvements to how the county protects vulnerable children and adults.
“We’re held accountable for protecting,” Supervisor Karen Spiegel said. “Yet we can’t protect if we don’t know.”
The county announced the hiring of retired judge Stephen G. Larson’s law firm in the wake of an ABC “20/20” report last year on the Turpins, which raised questions about their care after they were freed in 2018 from a Perris home where they were found shackled, malnourished and neglected by their parents.
David and Louise Turpin later pleaded guilty to 14 felony counts and were sentenced to 25 years to life in state prison. Their children were put in the county’s care, with minors going to foster homes and adults under the watch of the Public Guardian office, which looks after adults who can’t live on their own.
In November, an ABC News “20/20” report raised questions about the children’s post-captivity life. Two of the adult children said they struggled to find money for food, were forced to live in bad neighborhoods and were cast out into society with few life skills or regard for their well-being, an assertion backed by District Attorney Mike Hestrin.
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Despite an outpouring of community support that raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the children, Joshua Turpin said the Public Guardian denied his request for money to buy a bike. And three members of a Perris family have been accused of physically and psychologically abusing nine foster children, including five who evidence suggests are members of the Turpin family.
Larson couldn’t attend Tuesday’s meeting in person because he was busy with a federal trial in Boston, Potashner said. In her presentation to the board, she said the firm’s investigative team included experts from UC Berkeley, UCLA and Virginia Tech.
Besides two Turpin children, those interviewed included 37 Children’s Services Division employees, 11 Public Guardian staff and two District Attorney’s Office employees, said Potashner, who praised the county for its cooperation and giving the firm autonomy to do its work.
But the investigation won’t be done until Larson LLP is able to examine county and court records sealed to protect the Turpins’ privacy, Potashner said. Her firm has gone to court to obtain those records, with some being unsealed and others the subject of future court hearings.
The report was originally due March 31, but the firm now expects to deliver its findings by May 31, Potashner said. The firm’s findings can’t be addressed until the report is complete, she said.
Potashner’s comments Tuesday came the same day as a status report by an ad-hoc supervisors’ committee formed to help the investigation and recommend improvements to the county’s safety net for vulnerable children and adults.
That report noted that while “much work is already in process to continue to improve on our delivery of services to children and adults … more must be done.”
Supervisor Kevin Jeffries, who serves on the committee with Spiegel, offered his take on the committee’s work.
Confidentiality laws, he said in written comments, prevented the board from being aware of problems in social services, “and those confidentiality laws continue to prevent us from presenting any sort of explanation (good or bad) of the county’s staff and actions in the Turpin case either to our constituents or the media.”
“While there are definitely more than two sides of the story as far as allegations of neglect by the county in the Turpin case and other prior cases, one thing is clear: We must do a better job of communicating and coordinating across programs and departments and with the policymakers,” Jeffries said.
CPS caseloads are at “bone-crushing levels,” Jeffries said, adding state funding to care for vulnerable children and adults is “grossly inadequate” and available housing and treatment facilities “are significantly limited and at times nonexistent.”
Legal barriers and “incredibly burdensome” state regulations hinder services for at-risk youth and adults and “there has been very little reporting or accountability to the (county) executive office” from the county agencies responsible for those services, Jeffries said.
Jeffries elaborated on his comments Tuesday.
“My experience in ad hoc and closed session to get to root of the challenges was met with ‘I can’t tell you that supervisor,’” he said. “It is the most frustrating experience I’ve had in my time on the Board of Supervisors … I’ve never experienced that before. It’s brutal.”
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The county is “not the obstructionist here,” said Supervisor Chuck Washington.
“We want to know not only the truth, but the full truth so that we can move forward with whatever improvements we can make,” Washington said, adding the county is not withholding information “as has been insinuated by some in the press.”