Rohnert Park children adopted for financial gain were tortured, raped, records show

It was a low-slung two-story house on a quiet street in Rohnert Park. A large oak tree graced the front yard, and just beyond the back fence was an elementary school ball field where students played.

Neighbors say they rarely saw the young children who lived in the home and didn’t know much about them.

But on Aug. 19, 2020, they realized something wasn’t right.

That day, police officers converged on the home and arrested Jose and Gina Centeno on suspicion of abusing three foster children in their care.

The case, as it has unfolded in court documents, police reports and a handful of interviews with The Press Democrat, provides a horrific window into foster parents accused of physically and sexually abusing the vulnerable children in their care.

It also paints a picture of a rare — but not unheard of — example of foster parents who abused the system for personal profit.

The latest step in the saga will unfold in Sonoma County Superior Court Tuesday, when defense attorneys will present arguments about why they believe the case should not go to trial.

Chilling allegations

The crimes came to light after two of the children were abandoned in Mexico and shared their experience with a stranger who is believed to have called authorities. The third child disappeared years earlier and has not been seen or heard from since.

The details of the abuse case have only come to light over the past year as the defendants progressed through the court system.

The allegations are chilling:

• Rain or shine, the children were forced to run barefoot in a backyard until their feet bled.
• At night, they were locked in their bedroom and beaten if they triggered a motion sensor that alerted their adopted parents.
• One child says their foster father sexually abused her before she was a teenager and she was later raped and sodomized.

The violent abuse, detailed in testimony by two of the victims and in court transcripts, spanned a decade in the home on Camino Coronado in Rohnert Park’s C-section neighborhood, west of Sonoma State University.

Prosecutors say the couple adopted children for financial gain via California’s adoption assistance program ‒ described in court documents as their only source of income.

The exact amount of money the parents received is being withheld by authorities because the case is ongoing, officials said.

Adoption assistance funding amounts vary, but 10 years ago the family may have received monthly payments as low as $500 to $600 per child, according to the North American Council on Adoptable Children.

Both Jose and Gina Centeno have been charged with three counts of kidnapping for ransom and three counts of torture. Jose Centeno is also charged with nine additional counts related to rape and sex abuse.

“In this case, there was ample evidence of the defendants’ intent to cause severe pain and suffering,” Deputy District Attorney Ashley Hendon wrote in an evidentiary document filed on Oct. 11, 2022.

Both defendants have pleaded not guilty. Joe and Gina Centeno’s respective attorneys, Rachel McAllister and Evan Zelig, declined to comment on the case.

The prosecution has progressed over the past two years, and a preliminary hearing, which began in July 2022, concluded Feb. 28 when Sonoma County Judge Troye Shaffer ordered the Centenos to stand trial.

The couple is scheduled to stand trial in September.

“I hope that whatever outcome there is, the people involved in this situation are able to move forward once the criminal process has ended,” Sonoma County District Attorney Carla Rodriguez told The Press Democrat.

The preliminary hearing included testimony from two of the children, identified in court and records as Jane Doe 1, now 19, and John Doe, 18.

Testimony showed the abuse was only discovered after Jose Centeno moved them to an unspecified region of Mexico, where they shared their story with a stranger.

By that point, the third child, a girl, was nowhere to be seen after disappearing under mysterious circumstances in 2012.

Referred to in court records as Jane Doe 2, the girl was identified in 2020 as Kaya Centeno by the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety.

Rohnert Park Deputy Chief Kevin Kilgore declined to comment on the Centeno matter but said Kaya’s case remains open.

She is still in the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children database and would be about 21 now. An age-progressed photo of her is available online.

Jane Doe 1 said in court testimony during the preliminary hearing last July that Jose Centeno claimed Kaya was “sent away.”

“They dropped her off at the airport and she was crying,” Doe 1 testified at the time. “He said she was crying, and she didn’t want to go.”

Allegations of abuse

The Centenos’ home, by all appearances, fit well within its surrounding neighborhood, which suited a family with young children.

Camino Coronado is a curved residential street a half-mile long, lined with about 100 homes and surrounding El Colegio Preschool and Richard Crane Elementary School.

Sonoma County property records show their home is still under Jose and Gina Centeno’s names. Recently, it appeared to be undergoing renovations.

The Centenos had three biological children.

Testimony showed at least two of them did not live in the home when the torture occurred. Now adults in their 20s and 30s, none are charged in the case and officials haven’t specified their whereabouts.

According to testimony from the preliminary hearing, Jane Doe 1 and John Doe moved into the home when they were 3 and 2, respectively.

Kaya was about a year older than Jane Doe 1 and already living with the Centenos.

Exactly how the Centenos managed to adopt the children hasn’t been made clear, nor has it been specified whether an investigation is or was happening.

A California Department of Social Services spokesman, Jason Montiel, said in an email to The Press Democrat “the placement of a child for the purpose of adoption requires extensive assessments. Prospective adoptive parents are required to submit numerous documents to support their application, go through several background checks and participate in social/emotional-based interviews and home visits. If the prospective adoptive parents complete the assessment process, they then may be approved to proceed with the adoption of a child.”

Sonoma County’s Department of Human Services assists with fostering and adoptions. A county spokesperson, Paul Gullixson, called the Centeno matter a “heartbreaking and tragic case” but that state and federal laws prevent disclosure of information involving minors and dependent children.

According to testimony from Jane Doe 1 and John Doe, it didn’t take long for life in Rohnert Park to go bad.

“I remember thinking it was nice at first. But whenever I did something bad, they hit me or spanked me or something,” Jane Doe 1 said. “I thought it was normal, but I didn’t like it.”

John Doe testified that “things started happening that were, like, unusual and disturbing.”

When asked for examples, he said, “Like getting taken out of school and punishments started getting worse.”

The three children attended John Reed Elementary School in Rohnert Park for a year. At the time, Jane Doe 1, Kaya and John Doe were ages 7, 8 and 5, respectively.

Jane Doe 1 testified she told a teacher about injuries from running in the backyard, but he accused her of lying. She identified the teacher in court, but it wasn’t immediately clear if he still worked at John Reed.

A representative for the Cotati-Rohnert Park Unified School District did not return multiple calls from The Press Democrat for comment.

Jane Doe 1 also told a school social worker about the running. The conversation made its way to Jose and Gina Centeno, who were not happy.

“They were just telling me how I lied to that person, making it look like I lied to them and making me look like the bad guy basically,” Jane Doe 1 testified.

Shortly after the meeting, the children were removed from John Reed in favor of Christian-based home schooling that lasted nearly a year before their educations ended.

More common was punishment for mundane behavior.

Not eating fast enough. Sleeping in odd positions. Tearing their diapers, which they wore even while attending John Reed. All drew the scorn of Jose and Gina Centeno.

Severe abuse, detailed in testimony, included being chained to their bunk beds and forced to stay in a pet cage for weeks.

The children were beaten with a wooden spoon. They were locked in a bathroom with lights off and told the boogeyman was coming.

And with their hands restrained behind their backs with duct tape, their heads were dunked in sink or bathtub water for seconds at a time.

John Doe testified “They would make us put our hands above our head and do squats. If we slowed down, then they would either hit us or Jose would kick the back of our leg.”

Meals, which were few and far between, consisted of frozen burritos, Twinkies, Pop-Tarts and a cup of water. Always unsure of when they’d be fed next, the children rationed what they could.

They were allowed to use a bathroom once a day before eventually being limited to a paint bucket in their bedroom.

The bucket occasionally overflowed with urine and feces.

“ (Jose) would make us lick it off the bed, and then afterward he’d make us scrub it off with disinfecting wipes,” Jane Doe 1 testified. “And whenever (it) didn’t come off, he made us clean on our own with our nails.”

The victims described two attempts to escape; once through a hole in the ceiling and a second time through their bedroom window. Each time, they were caught and severely punished.

According to testimony, the Centenos later adopted two more children but prevented them from interacting with Jane Doe 1 and John Doe.

They remained at the home after Jane Doe 1 and John Doe moved to Mexico, but their current statuses were not available.

Allegations of rape

Jane Doe 1 was 11 years old when Jose Centeno began sexually abusing her, she testified.

She recalled her foster father touching her breasts, describing the behavior as “pinching.” Soon after, when she was still 11 years old, the defendant forced her to perform oral sex in her bed while John Doe slept.

When she was 13, Jane Doe 1 testified, Jose Centeno brought her into a bedroom that belonged to one of Jose’s biological kid’s and raped her while playing a video showing a naked woman.

She was raped once more in the following months. That second time, she said she was sodomized.

“At the moment, I just felt the fear and disgust again,” Jane Doe 1 testified. “I couldn’t think about how it felt. I just felt fear and disgust.”

Jane Doe 1 was 14 when she was brought into the bedroom again.

She testified Jose Centeno had placed his penis against her clothed buttocks.

Relocation and rescue

For reasons not specified, Jose Centeno moved the children to Mexico in early 2019, and his relationship with Gina Centeno had apparently shattered.

He was gone about a year when he returned to Rohnert Park by himself. He demanded to be let into the home, pounding on the front door at odd hours of the night, according to a restraining order request Gina Centeno filed in May 2020.

The filing shows she was still living with the two younger children and they feared Jose Centeno.

Jane Doe 1 testified she and her brother spent a month living in a motel with Jose Centeno on their way to Mexico. Once there, they lived with his family including a niece named Iris.

Abuse continued and the children struggled to tell relatives since Jose Centeno was always nearby.

They finally told Iris after Jose Centeno left to find work and make money for his family, but she was poor and unable to help.

The children found work doing dishes and sweeping porches for 5 to 10 pesos. While out, they met an American identified in testimony as Mary Lou and shared their story.

“It felt nice to get it off our chests. It also felt, like, nice to have some awareness,” Jane Doe 1 testified.

Mary Lou tried to get help by dialing a number that may have been for Child Protective Services, Jane Doe 1 recalled.

Iris later moved the children to the home of her mother. While there, an American named Carmen moved in next door.

She approached the children and explained she was from the United States, worked in child care and heard their story.

“And the next night after that, the Mexican police were at the door asking for us,” Jane Doe 1 testified.

It was July 2020 and they were being rescued.

“It felt like a miracle,” Jane Doe 1 testified.

You can reach Staff Writer Colin Atagi at colin.atagi@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @colin_atagi