Children’s Book Author and Husband Abused Adopted Kids for Years Until 8-Year-Old’s Organ Failure Alerted Police

A Florida-based children’s book author and her husband are heading to prison after pleading guilty to abusing their adopted children.

On Monday, Jan. 13, Jennifer and Joseph Wolfthal pleaded guilty to aggravated child abuse and neglect of a child with great bodily harm, according to a plea agreement obtained by PEOPLE.

The couple’s trial was supposed to start on Mon. Jan. 13, but they reached an agreement with prosecutors to plead guilty to the charges, local station WESH reports.

In exchange, prosecutors agreed to drop three counts of kidnapping faced by the couple.

Jennifer Wolfthal will be sentenced to 12 years in prison, while her husband will be sentenced to 10 years behind bars, according to the plea agreement.

Had the case gone to trial, the two faced more than 100 years in prison if convicted, the judge said in court, WESH reports.

“This plea and sentencing agreement ensures that the Wolfthals will spend significant time in prison while it protects the already-traumatized victims from the stress of having to testify,” the State Attorney’s office in Florida’s 18th judicial circuit said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE. “The State Attorney’s office made sure law enforcement and the children’s new guardian supported this sentence before it agreed to it.”

Jennifer is the author of the children’s book A Real Friend, which was removed from sale by its publisher.

The couple was arrested on child abuse charges on New Year’s Day in 2021, after Joseph brought their 8-year-old daughter to the hospital, where she was diagnosed with pneumonia, a staph infection and failure of the liver and kidneys, according to the arrest report obtained by WFTV.

The child was also malnourished, had multiple bruises, a skin infection and several open wounds, authorities said.

After Jennifer was released from custody on bond, she was arrested in late January on new charges of false imprisonment of a child under 13, PEOPLE confirmed. 

The new charges came after investigators interviewed the couple’s children, who alleged that they were spanked to the point of bleeding, doused in cold water, and locked in their bedrooms, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

The children often went for months without bathing, and were seriously malnourished, the arrest report alleged.

One child allegedly told investigators that her parents “would take turns disciplining them,” and would “spank her in the same spot to the point of drawing blood.”

The police report says that the children claimed they were punished by being doused with cold water in their beds, and “left to sleep in that condition overnight.”

The couple adopted the children in 2014, according to a divorce filing, WFTV reported.

Attorneys for the two did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s requests for comment.

If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.