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Police: 2-year-old Anderson twins neglected, starved

Marisa Kwiatkowski
marisa.kwiatkowski@indystar.com

Two Anderson parents have been charged with severely neglecting their 2-year-old twins and other two children, according to the Anderson Police Department.

Stephen Auker, 38, and Kimberly Robinson, 32, each face four felony counts of neglect of a dependent, Madison Circuit Court records show.

The Indiana Department of Child Services requested police assistance around 1 p.m. June 12 at Auker’s mother’s home in the 100 block of West Ninth Street.

Auker told police he had taken his four children — the twins and a 5-year-old and 6-year-old — to his mother’s home the day before. He said Robinson left him three weeks before that, and he felt as though he couldn’t care for the children alone.

Paramedics rushed the twins, who were severely malnourished, to St. Vincent Anderson Regional Hospital, police said. They later were transported to Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health.

Doctors there determined the children were suffering from extreme malnutrition and extensive physical and mental developmental delays.

At the time they were taken into protective custody, neither child was able to walk, talk, crawl, stand or eat with utensils, according to police records. Nor could the children eat solid foods.

The health of Auker and Robinson’s other two children was in “rapid decline” — though not as severe as the twins’ health, police said.

Investigators inspected the home where Auker and Robinson had lived, in the 100 block of West 13th Street, and found it in “deplorable condition” with a foul odor, police said. Dirty diapers, animal feces and trash littered the home.

Officials determined the twins had been confined to a 4-foot-by-4-foot area of the home with no bed and no food or drink, police said. All they had were the clothes they were wearing.

Auker and Robinson were arrested Wednesday. Their next court hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. July 20 in Madison Circuit Court.

Robinson’s attorney, Paul Podlejski, said he could not comment at this time. Auker’s attorney, Jimmy McDole, could not be reached Monday for comment.

Call Star reporter Marisa Kwiatkowski at (317) 444-6135. Follow her on Twitter: @IndyMarisaK.