CROYDON, Pa. (Gray News) - A couple in Pennsylvania are accused of feeding their prematurely born twins so little that the infants were “dangerously malnourished.”

Courtney Soyka, 32, and Marcus Maddela, 45, were charged with two counts each of felony child endangerment and conspiracy.

According to a press release, the investigation into the couple began in December 2024, when police received a referral from the Department of Children and Youth regarding newborn twins who had been born about two months premature.

The children were born on Oct. 7, 2024, and weighed only 4.1 and 3.7 pounds.

Due to their low weights, both infants remained in the hospital’s NICU for treatment and observation until doctors deemed them healthy enough to be released to the parents.

However, in the weeks that followed, the twins missed four scheduled medical appointments that were meant to check their weight.

Authorities said 32-year-old Courtney Soyka brought the children back to the hospital where medical personnel said they appeared “extremely underweight for their age.”

“When the babies returned to the hospital, each one was under the first percentile for their age,” the release states.

The twins were immediately taken to a hospital and after three days of care, the twins were able to gain weight at a much higher average at the hospital than when they were with their parents.

A doctor at the hospital said the twins' ability to gain weight so quickly at the hospital without their parents indicated the issues were “consistent with insufficient caloric intake at home,” according to the release.

One of the doctors who treated the child allegedly told authorities that both twins presented with “very poor weight gain” despite showing no symptoms of being ill.

Following their arrests, Soyka and Maddela were taken to jail where their bonds were set at $500,000.

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