A Lehigh County couple has been charged after authorities discovered 15-year-old emaciated twin brothers who were forced outside with little or no clothes in single degree temperatures.

The abuse was discovered last week after one twin went to a neighbor’s house for help.

Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin P. Holihan announced Monday that the boys’ mother, Tracy Dechant, 43, and stepfather, Joshua Dechant, 37, were both charged with two felony counts each of endangering the welfare of children. They were arraigned on Sunday before District Judge Mark McCants and were in Lehigh County Jail in lieu of $75,000 bail each. They subsequently posted bail Monday afternoon.

Holihan said the Pennsylvania State Police were called to a neighbor’s house in the area of 1271 Divot Drive, Lower Macungie Township, at 7:16 p.m. Wednesday, where the couple lives with the twin boys and their three younger children.

The neighbor reported that a nearly naked 15-year-old boy banged on their door begging for help, Holihan said. The temperature at that time was about 2 degrees, and the boy was wearing only a T-shirt and shorts he had found. The clothing had been thrown out a window.

The boy told police that his stepfather, Joshua Dechant, forced him to go outside naked as a form of punishment. He was outside for about 20 minutes and his feet were extremely red from the cold and snow. The trooper said in the criminal complaint that the boy was “very malnourished and extremely thin.”

The neighbor told police they gave the boy food, and he wouldn’t stop eating. The boy told the neighbor that food is withheld as a punishment and that he is forced to stand outside naked in the cold. He also has been forced to walk around the inside of the house naked, take cold showers without any towels, and wash his clothes in the sink.

“The neighbors responded wonderfully,” Holihan said. “They opened their home to a stranger who was at their door, and took a child in, fed him, they clothed him, and called the police. They did exactly what we would want them to do.”

Police spoke to Joshua Dechant and Tracy Dechant by telephone, and the boy was taken by ambulance to Lehigh Valley Hospital, Cedar Crest. At the hospital, medical personnel discovered that the boy weighed only about 53 pounds. The normal weight for teenager of his age and height is about 143 pounds.

The boy told hospital personnel about the abuse and being forced outside in the nude multiple times a day. He explained that if he didn’t wash his clothes in the sink, he had to walk around the house nude.

For food, he said he was given a small amount of oatmeal for breakfast and had to eat it with a baby spoon. Lunch was considered a privilege and he was often not allowed to eat it. The boy said his twin was being treated the same as him.

The boys had to sleep on the floor and were given one blanket to share. Medical personnel noted bruising on his body consistent with sleeping on the floor repeatedly without bedding.

At random times, his stepfather, Joshua Dechant, would tackle him by picking him up and throwing him against the floor, court records say.

The next day, Lehigh County Children and Youth Services also spoke to the boy and learned of the treatment of his brother. Together with a police officer, CYS went to the boys’ house and spoke to Tracy Dechant. They found the brother sitting at a kitchen table with an ice pack on his head. He looked extremely malnourished and in need of medical help.

Police said his feet were bare and appeared dark red or purplish in color. He was also taken to the hospital by ambulance and found to weigh only about 55 pounds. He had extensive bruising to his knees consistent with kneeling for an extended period of time. Medical personnel said he had no subcutaneous fat and significant muscle wasting.

“Based on his malnutrition, dehydration and nutritional deficiencies, this has been deemed a life-threatening presentation and he was at extremely high risk of death without treatment,” the criminal complaint stated.

The hospital could not find any medical records or doctor visits for the boys since 2017.

On Friday, police interviewed the boys’ biological sister, who is older than them and has not lived in the house since April 2023. Holihan said that she moved out when she turned 18 years old.

The boys’ sister confirmed that her brothers were treated just as they had said, and that she too was abused. She also was forced outside in the cold underdressed. She said her brothers were not allowed to eat or drink anything after the family ate dinner. She also confirmed that neither she nor her brothers received any medical care for most of their childhoods.

Holihan said it appears that neither boy went to school, but it is not known if they were home-schooled, virtual schooled or not schooled at all.

The three younger children in the house were taken into custody and will be cared for by family. The younger children did not appear to be “in the same state of physical neglect and abuse as these two boys were found,” Holihan said.

The case was investigated by Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Steven M. Potynski Jr. and the investigation is ongoing. It will be prosecuted by Senior Deputy District Attorney Sarah K. Heimbach. The boys’ names will not be released.

A LinkedIn search shows Joshua Dechant as the owner of JD Mechanical Solutions. Holihan confirmed that the couple works for an HVAC company, but did not specify the name of the company.