A judge on Tuesday sentenced a Rohnert Park man to six consecutive life sentences for abusing his three foster children, whom he hid from public view, beat and starved for about a decade.

In delivering the verdict before a packed Santa Rosa courtroom, Sonoma County Judge Troy Shaffer sharply criticized Jose Centeno, who was found guilty by a Sonoma County jury on July 30.

“I have never seen anything like this,” Shaffer said, adding that Centeno was “cruel beyond words” to his three foster children.

He received life sentences – the maximum sentences for each count – for three counts of child abduction for ransom and three counts of rape of one of the children, identified in court as Jane Doe.

Centeno, 57, was also found guilty of three counts of torture, for which he received a prison sentence of seven years to life in each case. He was also found guilty of six other counts related to Doe’s rape, for which he received a total of 39 years in prison.

Centeno refused to leave his cell at the Sonoma County Jail for Tuesday’s hearing and was not in the courtroom when Shaffer handed down his sentence.

Prison staff placed a camera outside his cell so he could attend the hearing via Zoom, but Centeno never appeared on camera, so he was seen on the courtroom television.

Jane Doe was present Tuesday, standing next to the television so Centeno could hear her, and calmly read a statement about the impact of her foster father’s abuse and her decision to move on.

“I deserve to be happy. I’m a good person who deserves a normal life. It took me years to realize that,” said Doe, who is in his 20s.

She concluded her statement by saying, “I am no longer a victim. I am a survivor.”

Doe later told The Press Democrat that reading her statement was both “nerve-wracking” and “courageous.”

Centeno and his wife, Gina Centeno, were both arrested in August 2020 and charged with torturing the children at their home on Camino Coronado in Rohnert Park.

Gina Centeno, 53, died in prison in January before she could face a jury.

Officials believe the Centenos adopted two girls, ages three and four, and a two-year-old boy through the California adoption assistance program in 2006 for financial reasons.

Prosecutors said the Centenos told adoption officials the children were OK in order to receive the funds, but they concealed their activities by telling friends and relatives the children had been moved to new foster homes.

For years, the children went hungry, received only rationed food, and were chained to their beds in a locked bedroom with a floor covered in urine and feces.

Jane Doe testified that Jose Centeno raped and anally abused her when she was 13 years old.

She and her youngest sibling, identified in court only as J. Doe, now 19, testified during the trial. Her oldest sibling, Kaya, disappeared in 2012. She has not yet been found.

Authorities said she would be about 22 years old now. Neither woman knows if Kaya is still alive. Centeno has never told authorities what happened to her or where she might be.

Jane Doe said in her statement Tuesday that it is very disturbing not knowing what happened to Kaya and that no one should have to wonder where their sibling is.

Jane Doe and J. Doe were rescued in 2020 after Jose Centeno took them to Mexico, where they met a U.S. citizen who they believe alerted authorities to their plight.

During the criminal trial, health experts testified that the two had been denied an education and were unfamiliar with basic concepts such as counting money.

In addition, they suffered from the long-term health consequences of their malnutrition.

The siblings have now filed a lawsuit in federal court against Sonoma County and a dozen employees of the local Family, Youth and Child Services Authority.

They are accused of violating their civil rights, breach of mandatory duties, negligence, intentional infliction of mental suffering, bodily harm, sexual slavery and deprivation of liberty.

The trial against Jose Centeno lasted more than a month and he refused to attend the final weeks of the proceedings, just as he did when the verdict was announced on Tuesday.

Rachel McAllister, Centeno’s public defender, told The Press Democrat on Tuesday that her client has also refused to communicate with her recently.

She declined to comment further on the case, but several jurors who attended Tuesday’s hearing praised McAllister for her handling of the case.

They told The Press Democrat that listening to the testimony and evidence was stressful for them and that they often looked for ways to calm their minds after the trial.

Skylar Molinari, 19, of Santa Rosa, said she was particularly disturbed by the photos of Kaya with a black eye and Jane Doe, who was naked and covered in feces.

“It was one of the worst and most devastating things I have ever seen or heard,” Molinari said of the case.

As an alternate juror, Molinari sat throughout the trial but did not participate in the jury’s deliberations.

During the trial, she was forbidden to talk about it. She said she was not even allowed to tell her mother about the case. Instead, she spoke about it with her two-year-old brother, who did not understand a word she said and did not want to tell anyone.

Another juror, 33-year-old David Koski of Sebastopol, said he took long walks to relax after attending court and hearing the details of the case.

He was one of the jurors present on Tuesday and said there was no doubt about Centeno’s guilt and he was satisfied with Shaffer’s verdict.

Following the hearing on Tuesday, Koski said it was necessary to attend the verdict following the tax trial.

“It’s good to have a degree,” Koski said.

Reach staff writer Colin Atagi at [email protected]. Follow on Twitter @colin_atagi