Alexandria Thompson

A couple faces criminal charges after police were contacted about two of their children appearing malnourished.

Harley Izzo, 28, and Alexandria Thompson, 25, both of Bowling Green, were arrested Nov. 1 on charges of first-degree criminal abuse.

They have been arraigned in Warren District Court and are due back in court Tuesday for preliminary hearings.

According to an arrest citation, the Warren County Sheriff’s Office was contacted Oct. 13 by someone who had inspected the couple’s apartment the previous day and saw two children locked in a room.

“The complainant described both to appear malnourished and one of them having white lips appearing dehydrated,” WCSO Detective Evan Cook said in an arrest citation.

Law enforcement contacted the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, which visited the residence on Oct. 14.

The two children were taken to TriStar Greenview Regional Hospital for evaluation and then to Norton Children’s Hospital in Louisville, where they were placed in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and monitored for several days due to “severe malnutrition,” records show.

Doctors at Norton classified one of the children as “near fatal due to the severity of malnutrition and refeeding syndrome,” an arrest citation said.

After being discharged, the children were interviewed Oct. 28 at Barren River Area Child Advocacy Center, where they described not being allowed to go into the living room of their home.

When their parents gave them food, they would then take it from the children and throw it away, and one of the children described being kept locked in his room every night, court records show.

Interviewed by deputies, Thompson and Izzo said the family had financial issues that “prevented them from having as much food as needed at times” and that Izzo locked the children into their bedroom at night and during the day, an arrest citation said.

“Harley stated that it was only supposed to be for one week to teach them a lesson but progressed to locking them in their room not only at night but during the day as well,” Izzo’s arrest citation said. “He first started doing this last year.”

Izzo and Thompson remain in Warren County Regional Jail under $100,000 cash bonds.