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Following a two-year probe into severe allegations of child abuse and neglect, Pennsylvania authorities have apprehended three family members. Medical professionals have stated that the reported incidents align with the criteria for child torture.
The Newberry Township Police identified the accused as Ashley Cardona, 29, the children’s mother; Lori Cardona, 51, their grandmother; and Michael Cardona, 27, Ashley’s brother. They face multiple charges concerning the mistreatment of three young victims, aged 5, 6, and 10.
Ashley and Lori Cardona are each facing charges of criminal conspiracy to commit unlawful restraint, unlawful restraint, false imprisonment, endangering the welfare of children, alongside conspiracy charges. Michael Cardona has been charged with conspiracy to commit unlawful restraint and false imprisonment, in addition to endangering the welfare of children.
The investigation, which commenced in March 2024, has brought alarming details to light.
York County District Attorney Tim Barker revealed that a 6-year-old boy, now 8, was allegedly confined in a “crib cage” contaminated with urine and feces, according to WGAL. Barker described this as “a makeshift caged crib, assembled with stacked cribs, ratchet straps, zip ties, locking mechanisms, and a wrist device tethered to a leash.”
A girl, 5 at the time and now 6, would be buckled into a car seat for hours at a time and was restrained at times for 20 to 23 hours per day, Barker said.
Both of those children were severely malnourished, the DA said. They both suffered developmental delays and were not potty-trained.
Investigators said they got a call from York Hospital on March 19, 2024, reporting that county Children and Youth Services had brought the two younger children to the hospital after taking them into custody for emergency protection, WHP said.
Police executed a search warrant at the home three days later and found a crib that had been modified into a “cage like structure, incorporating external locking mechanisms, charging documents said.
Michael Cardona told them he helped build the monstrosity by stacked two cribs on top of each other.
Officers also found a playpen in Ashley Cardona’s bedroom that could be zipped closed from the outside.
CYS told investigators that they’d conducted several visits to the home beginning on February 24, 2024.
“Both children had reportedly not left the home in approximately two years and had not received routine medical or dental care since 2019,” police wrote in charging documents.
CYS removed them from the home a month later and took them to the hospital.
The children’s conditions improved dramatically after they were removed.
Detectives spent the next two years obtaining and reviewing the children’s medical records, finally sending them to Penn State’s Health Children’s Hospital Center for Protection of Children on Oct. 17, 2025, for “expert review.” That’s when a doctor said the children had been subjected to torture.
“Child torture was described as a longitudinal pattern of physical abuse combined with two or more forms of psychological maltreatment,” an affidavit says. “Unlike isolated incidents of physical abuse, child torture is premeditated, pervasive, and impacts all aspects of a child’s daily life, resulting in significant physical, emotional, and developmental harm.”
The documents did not say what became of the older child, who is mentioned in a police press release.
The Cardonas have been jailed on $250,000 bonds each.
Police said the children were placed in “healthy alternative living arrangements, where they remain today.”