Sonoma County man who tortured adopted children receives life sentence

A Sonoma County man who abused his three adopted children for years while receiving state adoption assistance was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison without the possibility of parole, the Sonoma County District Attorney's Office announced.

Jose Centeno, 57, of Rohnert Park, was found guilty by a jury in July on three counts of kidnapping for profit, three counts of torture and nine counts of sexual abuse of a child.

He was sentenced Tuesday to six consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole, three consecutive life sentences and an additional 39 years in the California Department of Corrections.

In 2006, Jose and Gina Centeno adopted three siblings, ages 2, 3, and 4, and enrolled them at John Reed Elementary School. In 2010, after a school employee filed a report with Child Protective Services alleging physical abuse, the Centenos removed the children from the school and hid them in captivity.

The Centenos told neighbors and relatives that the children had been returned to the state and no longer lived in their home. In reality, the Centenos locked the three children in an upstairs bedroom with a boarded-up window and chained them to their beds.

At one point, Kaya, the eldest sister, lost consciousness due to the abuse. Her siblings were told that Kaya had been sent away and that they never saw or heard from her again.

One of the remaining siblings was not allowed to leave the upstairs bedroom for years unless Jose Centeno took her to another room and sexually abused her there.

At the end of 2018 or the beginning of 2019, Jose Centeno took the two younger siblings in to live with family members in Mexico.

All the while, the Centenos told state officials that the children were still in their care and were receiving hundreds of dollars each month through the Adoption Assistance Program, benefits they received until their crimes were discovered in 2020.

After the two younger siblings told people in Mexico about their abuse, the Mexican child welfare agency alerted the Sonoma County Child Welfare Office in July 2020 and launched a criminal investigation.

Jose and Gina Centeno were arrested in August 2020. Gina Centeno was also charged but died before the trial began.

The Honorable Judge Troye Shaffer sentenced Jose Centeno to the maximum penalty for the charges against him.

The oldest sibling, Kaya, has still not been found. According to witnesses, she disappeared in 2012 when she was 10 years old.

“While it is appropriate that Mr. Centeno will spend the rest of his life in prison, our two brave victims still miss their sister Kaya,” said District Attorney Carla Rodriguez. “Although justice was absolutely served in this case, Kaya will always be in our thoughts.”

Anyone with information on Kaya's whereabouts is asked to contact the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety at (707) 584-2630. Her missing persons page can be found on the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children website.

Reach Maliya Ellis: [email protected]