A Croydon couple has been sentenced after pleading guilty to felony child endangerment charges for failing to provide necessary care and nutrition for their newborn premature twins, resulting in severe malnourishment, Bucks County authorities announced Thursday.
Courtney Soyka, 33, pleaded guilty today to two counts of child endangerment and was sentenced to one year less a day to two years less a day in county jail. Marcus Maddela, 45, previously pleaded guilty in late October to child endangerment charges and was sentenced to eight to 23 months in county jail. During Thursday’s sentencing hearing before President Judge Raymond F. McHugh, Assistant District Attorney Bridget Murphy described the case as “extremely disturbing.”
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As previously reported by this digital news organization, in December 2024 an investigation was launched when Bristol Township police received a referral from Bucks County Children and Youth about newborn twins born premature at 32 weeks, according to court records.
The babies were born on Oct. 7 and held in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) until they were healthy enough to be released to their parents. On Dec. 11, both were brought back to the hospital after missing four medical appointments each and appearing extremely underweight for their age.
The medical appointments they missed were meant for regular weight checks since the twins were born so premature, according to authorities.
When the baby’s returned to the hospital, each one was under the first percentile for their age. One of them weighed 4.16 pounds at birth and weighed only 5.78 pounds when they returned to the hospital two months later in December. The other twin weighed 3.74 pounds at birth and 5.04 pounds when they returned in December.
The twins were immediately taken to St. Christopher’s Hospital in Philadelphia.
After three days of care, the twins were able to gain weight at a much higher average at the hospital than when they were with their parents. A St. Christopher’s doctor said that indicated that was consistent with insufficient caloric intake at home.
A doctor also indicated that both twins presented with “very poor weight gain” with no other symptoms of illness, and their conditions were able to improve significantly with only routine formula feedings by mouth at the hospital.
The doctor said that the insufficient weight gain could have been addressed sooner if the twins had been taken to their follow-up appointments with their pediatrician as scheduled, authorities said.
A request for an update on the health and well being of the twins was not immediately responded to by the Bucks County DA’s office Friday.
