Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Several adult children among the 13 siblings freed in 2018 from virtual imprisonment in their abusive parents' Southern California home found themselves a year later feeling pressured by the county's guardian to move to an apartment in disrepair in a crime-ridden area, court documents showed.
Court documents are slowly being released in Riverside County that were previously sealed in the disturbing case that attracted international attention when details emerged showing the parents shackled and starved their children for years.
In a 2019 court filing, an attorney for the adult children of David and Louise Turpin wrote that three of the siblings were taken to see the apartment by an employee for the Riverside County Public Guardian's office and were "fearful to object so they indicated that the apartment was okay with the expectation that other apartments would be viewed."
When they raised concern about the safety of the neighborhood, the agency said the lease was already signed and the only alternative would be to split up the siblings and place them in a board and care facility, according to the filing by attorney Jack Osborn, who represented the seven adult children after they were freed from their parents' home.
The Turpins were arrested more than four years ago after one of their children escaped from their their Perris, California, home and reported they had been shackled to beds, starved and held largely in isolation from the world. All but the 2-year-old were severely underweight and hadn't bathed for months. Investigators concluded the youngest child was the only one not abused by the couple, who pleaded guilty to torture and abuse in 2019 and have been sentenced to life in prison.
The document release comes after ABC reported that Riverside County's social service system failed in various instances to help the seven adult and six minor children transition to new lives. The county has hired a private law firm to look into the allegations.
Messages seeking comment were left for Osborn and the office of the Public Guardian, which is the county agency tasked with assisting adults unable to properly care for themselves or manage their finances. Brooke Federico, a spokeswoman for Riverside County, declined to discuss details of the case said the release of the court documents will assist with the law firm's review.
Not all court documents in the case have been unsealed. It was not immediately known whether the five adult children moved to the apartment described as "in a state of significant disrepair" in Osborn's filing, and if so, how long they stayed. In his filing, Osborn wrote that the Public Guardian's office said the apartment was going to be fixed.
But the account is similar to comments aired by two of the Turpin children in an interview last year with ABC and by Melissa Donaldson, Riverside County's director of victim services, who said at times the children did not have a safe place to stay or enough food.
The comments were especially surprising because in the days after their release, the adult and minor children were taken to hospitals for treatment and donations and support poured in from around the world.
In a separate filing this year, Osborn raised questions about $1.2 million reportedly collected in donations to assist the siblings in the days and weeks after their release and how the one of the siblings who remains under a conservatorship with the Public Guardian can access these charities.
That sibling, in 2019, objected to being sent to a board and care facility rather than remaining with her family as they moved to the apartment, Osborn wrote at that time.
Her siblings contended that "immediate separation from her brothers and sisters will continue the trauma that she has suffered," Osborn wrote, particularly since she never complained about the abuse and followed the house rules, which they believe "has resulted in some significant developmental issues."
A few weeks later, the siblings dropped the objection so long as she had frequent contact with them, court papers showed.
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.