A Florida couple is behind bars while their 5-month-old twins recover in the hospital after being brought in severely malnourished and dehydrated, according to police.
Leroy Somersall III, 24, and Madison Smith, 23, were charged with child neglect with great bodily harm after taking their twins — a boy and a girl — to Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children on Jan. 6. An arrest affidavit obtained by local media said Child Protective Services received a hotline tip about the babies and alerted law enforcement.
When Seminole County sheriff’s detectives arrived at the hospital, medical staff told them the baby boy was “dehydrated and malnourished to the point where you can see every bone in his body.”
According to the affidavit, both infants weighed just 5.7 pounds at five months old. Investigators noted the baby girl weighed more than that at birth. The twins were born about a month premature, and police said Smith tested positive for THC at the time of delivery.
Smith told investigators she and Somersall took the babies to the hospital after the boy became unresponsive. She said a pediatrician had previously recommended feeding the twins 70 to 80 milliliters of formula every two hours, but admitted she had not seen or spoken to the pediatrician since September 2025, when the babies were newborns.
Both parents told police they did not realize feeding amounts needed to increase as the babies grew. They also claimed the twins were thin because Somersall himself is thin.
Investigators said a search of the RV where the family lived did not uncover any formula.
Somersall and Smith were arrested and are being held at the John E. Polk Correctional Facility on $100,000 bond each. They are scheduled to appear in court on March 3.
Police said both babies are expected to survive and have shown improvement since being hospitalized, though they may have suffered neurological damage.
Leave a Comment