Couple sentenced in mistreatment of starved children

HALIFAX, Pa. – A Pennsylvania man and woman have been sentenced in the mistreatment of three children prosecutors said were so starved for food they peeled paint off the walls to survive.

Thirty-five-year-old Joshua Weyant and 39-year-old Brandi Weyant pleaded guilty in February to aggravated assault, conspiracy, false imprisonment, unlawful restraining and child endangerment.

Joshua Weyant was sentenced Monday in Dauphin County Court to 19 1/2 to 39 1/2 years in prison. Brandi Weyant was sentenced to 18 3/4 to 37 1/2 years.

Police acting on an anonymous tip found a 6-year-old boy and two girls, ages 4 and 5, locked inside a room at the couple’s Halifax Township home in December 2016. Prosecutors say two of the children were close to dying of malnutrition.

The Weyants were raising the children but weren’t their biological parents.