Reading couple charged with child abuse

READING, September 22, 2011

"I have never seen a child that has suffered from malnourishment to this degree that it resulted in criminal charges. It's heart-wrenching," said John Adams, Berks County District Attorney.

26-year-old Lindsay Coleman and 27-year-old Rick Postetter have been charged with neglecting the welfare of a child.

Adams says the 4-year-old child weighed just 19 ½ pounds, suffered from medical neglect, and was kept confined to his home.

"This child basically was living in its crib on its back," said Adams.

Adams says two other children in the home were removed but did not appear to suffer from neglect.

Coleman was arrested Wednesday and Postetter is already in jail for a parole violation.

In July, Youth and Child Services went to the couple's house on a tip about the child's condition.

Action News spoke with a woman who would not give her name but said she is the child's great-grandmother.

"She tried to work with him and to save him but she didn't have money to take him to a doctor and here it's too late for him," the relative said.

Adams says the child spent a considerable amount of time the hospital and is doing better.

If convicted the child's parents could face up to seven years in prison.