COUPLE LOCKED STARVING BOY IN CLOSET

CRIME.....Michael Marshall, 38, and Sharon Glass, 48, allegedly kept Marshall's son locked up for weeks at a time.

WHEN Florida police checked out a child abuse report, they found an emaciated boy lying on the floor inside a locked bathroom at his home, apparently punished for stealing food.

The boy was rushed to the hospital where workers said he resembled a concentration camp survivor, and they treated him for malnutrition and dehydration.

The 12-year-old boy's father and his girlfriend have been charged with aggravated child abuse and child neglect. Two other kids at the home have been removed as child welfare officials investigate.

According to a police report, the boy weighing just 18.2kg was locked in a bathroom, strapped to a bed or caged in a closet for days or weeks at a time over the past year.

Michael Marshall, 38, and Sharon Glass, 48, allegedly kept Marshall's son locked up for weeks at a time. (AP)

Brevard County Jail records show 38-year-old Michael Marshall and 48-year-old Sharon Glass have been charged with three counts each of aggravated child abuse and three counts each of child neglect. A judge ordered both be held without bond. It is not immediately clear if they have an attorney.

Marshall is the father of the 12-year-old boy and a 10-year-old girl. Glass is the mother of the 5 year-old boy.

Marshall also has a 17-year-old son with his ex-wife, Lisa Minshall, 36, who lives in southwestern Ohio. She said her son was still an infant when she and Marshall divorced, and Marshall hasn't seen him since he was 3.

"I kind of feel sick, and I'm kind of happy that that situation didn't happen to me and my son," Minshall said. "If I would have stayed around long enough, he probably would have been abusive to his first son." (AP)