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Deputy Attorney General, Wife Charged With Abusing Adopted Children

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- A prominent local couple is accused of abusing their two adopted children.

Deputy Attorney General Douglas Barbour and his wife, Kristey Barbour, were arrested Thursday by Allegheny County Police.

The Franklin Park couple faces two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, aggravated assault and simple assault.

Sources close to the investigation tell KDKA's Marty Griffin the couple allegedly tried to starve their 6-year-old adopted son who had to be hospitalized with malnutrition.

Sources also indicate the couple's 18-month-old adopted daughter has five different bone fractures of varying ages.

According to the investigation, the couple adopted the children from Ethiopia in March through a church organization.

Since that time, sources say the couple did not feed the 6-year-old boy for an extended period of time and that abuse was discovered by doctors at Children's Hospital.

According to investigators, the 18-month-old girl is at the Children's Institute right now and that she may have suffered a stroke from the five different bone fractures and the injuries and that she may be permanently blind as a result.

Meantime, the attorney general's office released a statement saying that Barbour has been suspended without pay and that they will cooperate fully with this investigation.

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