Rohnert Park couple kept adopted children locked in bedroom, chained to bed: DA

( KRON ) — A Rohnert Park man was sentenced to six sentences of life in prison on Tuesday for crimes he committed against three children that he adopted, the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office said. The man and his wife kept the children locked in a bedroom and chained to a bed while they collected government money.

Jose Centeno, 57, was found guilty of three counts of kidnapping for financial gain, three counts of torture, and nine counts involving the sexual abuse of a child. His wife, Gina Centeno, died in jail custody in January.

The Centenos adopted the three young siblings in 2006 when they were 2, 3 and 4 years old, the DA’s office said. The children attended John Reed Elementary School until the Centenos pulled them out after a school staffer reported possible physical abuse to Child Protective Services in 2010.

After this, the couple hid the children in captivity. They told family members that the children had been given back to the state or “sent away.” However, the Centenos collected hundreds of dollars from the state each month until 2020.

While the Centenos’ family members thought the children had been sent away, they were still in the home, locked in an upstairs bedroom, the DA’s office said. The window to the room was boarded up, and the children were chained to the beds and abused.

At some point, the oldest sibling, a girl named Kaya, lost consciousness. Her siblings were told she was sent away, and they never saw her again. To this day, Kaya remains classified as missing.

One of the other two children was sexually abused for years by Jose Centeno. The only time the girl would leave the room was when Centeno unchained her to abuse her in another room, per the DA’s office.

In late 2018 or early 2019, Jose took the other two children to Mexico to leave them with family. There, the children told people what happened to them in the Centenos’ home.

In 2020, while the children were 17 and 15 years old, Mexico Child Protective Services contacted Sonoma County Child Protective Services about the abuse. The children complied with the investigation, and the Centenos were arrested in August 2020.

“While appropriate that Mr. Centeno will be spending the rest of his life in prison, our two brave victims are still missing their sister Kaya. Though justice has absolutely been served in this case, Kaya will always be in our thoughts,” Sonoma County DA Carla Rodriguez said.

Jose Centeno was found guilty of every charge he faced and received a maximum prison sentence.

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