THE father who kept his 13 children in deplorable conditions inside his California home was hit with new charges overnight, related to his lying to obtain a home schooling license.

David Turpin — who was arrested along with his wife, Louise, when their children were discovered shackled inside the Perris, California residence — was charged with eight counts of perjury relating to an affidavit he filed with the state Department of Education, the New York Post reported.

The Riverside County District Attorney’s Office said that the dad “certified under penalty of perjury that the children in the home were receiving a full-time education in a private day school.”

The status as a home school may have helped the Turpins avoid scrutiny from child protective services.

The couple has already been charged with 12 counts each of torture and false imprisonment, as well as nine counts of child abuse and seven counts of cruelty to a dependent adult.

Mr Turpin is also charged with forcefully performing a lewd act on a child under the age of 14.

They have pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.

In January their 17-year-old daughter escaped from the family home, and called emergency services. Authorities say they found a filthy home and malnourished kids.

According to police, the siblings — aged between two and 29 — were found in dark and foul-smelling conditions — with at least a couple of the children shackled to their beds.

Police allege the couple starved all of their 13 children and kept them chained and padlocked to their beds.

The parents were allegedly obsessed with Disney and lived in a home piled up with junk.

But it’s a world away from the lives most of the children are living today, according to their lawyer Jack Osborn.

ABC News reported in March seven of the siblings got their first taste of freedom after they were discretely whisked away from the Corona Regional Medical Center.

It was there they had been nursed back to health in near total isolation after police rescued them in January. Mr Osborn described their release from hospital as a “second birth”.

The young adults, ages 18 to 29, were taken by their lawyer and public guardian from the carefully controlled ward of the hospital to an undisclosed rural house they now call home. The adult children reportedly talk on Skype with their six younger siblings, who are reportedly split between two foster homes.