Parents of malnourished boys make court appearance
DENVER (AP) — A Denver couple accused of starving their four young sons and keeping them in a filthy apartment strewn with cat feces, urine and flies made their first court appearance Tuesday and were advised of the felony child abuse charges against them.
The boys — 2, 4, 5 and 6 — have been placed in protective care and have undergone hospital exams that found they are malnourished, not toilet trained and can only communicate in grunts.
Lorinda Bailey, 35, who is free on bond, appeared in court dressed in a black pant suit. Her husband, 66-year-old Wayne Sperling, is in custody and sat with defendants in other cases behind a glass barrier. He was dressed in a yellow jail uniform.
Bailey and Sperling did not enter pleas. However, both have previously pleaded guilty to child abuse.
Police said officers had been called in April 2012 after children were seen hanging from a window at the couple’s apartment building. Officers reported there was food in the home and children appeared well-fed. The home was “messy and crowded,” according to a police report.
Police followed up after learning Bailey and Sperling had both pleaded guilty to one count of child abuse in 2009.
When officers interviewed Bailey last year, she told police that she had lost parental rights to three of her children in 2009 but had been able to get one back.
Sperling was cited then with a municipal charge for allowing the children to hang out the window.