DENVER | A judge postponed a hearing Friday for a Denver couple to enter pleas on charges of child abuse for allegedly starving their four young sons and keeping them in a filthy apartment.
No reason was given for the delay, which was announced after a brief discussion among the judge and attorneys. Their comments weren’t audible to others.
An arrest warrant affidavit said hospital examinations showed the boys could communicate only in grunts, were malnourished and were not toilet trained. Authorities said they were living in an apartment full of cat feces and flies.
Wayne Sperling, 66, and Lorinda Bailey, 35, left the courtroom separately on Friday. Neither they nor their attorneys would comment.
Their next hearing is Thursday.
Sperling and Bailey each face four counts of felony child abuse.
The boys are 2, 4, 5 and 6. All have been placed in protective care.
The couple pleaded guilty in June 2007 to misdemeanor child abuse involving other children, according to court documents.
The current charges against the parents came after an investigation that began Sept. 29 when Bailey took her youngest son to St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital for a cut on his forehead, which she said happened after a fall.
An emergency room doctor informed authorities that the child was unwashed and smelled like cigarette smoke, prompting a welfare check by a Denver Human Services case worker. Bruising behind the child’s right ear appeared consistent with pinching, the doctor said.
The welfare check revealed the squalid conditions.
A doctor with the Family Crisis Center told police that it did not appear that the children regularly visited the doctor and the 5-year-old had no records whatsoever.