Police arrested an Ohio couple after officers allegedly found the man’s 4-year-old twin boys bound, gagged, and duct taped to a wall in their College Hill home, as reported by WLWT.

According to KGMH, James Howell, 26, and girlfriend Jamie Carver, 30, are charged with two counts of kidnapping and child endangering. Cincinnati police Detective Janette Vaughn said that officers were “deeply disturbed” by what they responded to on Sunday.

“[The officers] just felt so emotionally disturbed by what they saw,” Fraternal Order of Police President Sergeant Dan Hils told the local station on Monday. “It’s so unique and remarkable that it took very veteran, very seasoned, inner-city police officers to say, ‘Wow, this is unbelievable.'”

Detective Vaughn said officers recovered duct tape, shoelaces, and socks that were used to bind and gag the 4-year-olds as punishment. One of the children had small hemorrhages on his arms, ankles, neck, face, ears, and legs, authorities wrote.

The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that a concerned neighbor called police. Both of the children are said to have told social workers that they were being beaten and bound by the adults in the apartment. Court records indicated that the 4-year-old twins were underweight and suffered from serious growth, speech, and developmental delays.

Carver is not the children’s mother. Their mother, Tiffany Barber, died and Howell was awarded custody of the twins, The Cincinnati Enquirer noted.

Detective Vaughn said the twins are currently in foster care. Sergeant Hils told KGMH that the officers in the department have begun collecting donations for the boys.

A third person, Rowdy Warren, 30, was charged with obstructing official business for being in the apartment during the alleged abuse.

WLWT reports that the couple is out on bond. It’s unclear whether Warren remains jailed.

[Featured Image: Hamilton County Jail]