PERRIS (CNS) - An online auction for the home where a Perris couple allegedly imprisoned and tortured 12 of their 13 children ended today with a high bid of $310,360.The foreclosure sale, with proceeds going to the bank, began Friday morning and was conducted by Los Angeles-based Hudson & Marshall, which listed the 7,405-square-foot house at 160 Muir Woods Road without any reference to the property's recent history. The identity of the auction's highest bidder was not disclosed.
David Allen Turpin, 56, and his wife, 50-year-old Louise Ann Turpin, purchased the four-bedroom residence in August 2014 for $351,000, according to property records. The Turpins have not lived in the home, which was a year old when they bought it, since being arrested last January. Both are being held in lieu of $12 million bail at the Robert Presley Jail in Riverside.
They are both facing 12 counts of torture and false imprisonment, as well as eight counts of child abuse and seven counts of cruelty to a dependent adult. David Turpin is additionally charged with eight counts of perjury and one count of lewd acts on a child, while Louise Turpin alone is charged with a single count of assault resulting in great bodily injury. In November, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Bernard Schwartz tentatively scheduled trial proceedings to begin on Sept. 3 at the Riverside Hall of Justice.
Prosecutors allege that the defendants resorted to extreme measures to discipline their children, whom they forced to reside in filth, with a compulsory sleep schedule that often spanned 20 hours a day, little to no exercise and meals generally made up of microwave-heated burritos and peanut butter sandwiches. The siblings were virtually imprisoned, only free to leave their assigned quarters when both parents were out of the house, according to testimony at a preliminary hearing last June.D.A.'s office Investigator Wade Walsvick testified that all but one of the victims were severely malnourished.
Walsvick testified that when he spoke to the couple's oldest son, 25-year-old Joshua Turpin revealed how he and his siblings were locked inside cages if their parents became angry with them. There were alleged beatings with paddles, ``hitting on the face, slapping, pushing and being thrown across the room or to the ground,'' the witness said.
The children, whose ages range from 3 to 30, are in the care of county Child Protective Services and Adult Protective Services staff. Most of them were hospitalized last January for treatment, but they have since been released and placed in undisclosed residential facilities, according to county officials. Only the now-3-year-old girl was in good health.
The defendants are facing nearly 100 years behind bars if convicted.