A Kingfisher husband and wife were charged Tuesday with felony child abuse in Kingfisher County District Court for periodically caging two intellectually disabled boys in a homemade cage in a closet in their home.

Joel Lowes, 69, was charged with four counts of felony child abuse.

Deborah Lowes, 65, was charged with two counts of enabling child abuse, also a felony.

Deborah Lowes is identified in the criminal information filed in Kingfisher County District Court as the adopted mother of two intellectually disabled boys, ages 11 and 13, who were allegedly kept in a cage in a closet in the Lowes’ home for undisclosed lengths of time.

The situation came to the attention of the King fisher County Sheriff’s Office in May and officers confiscated a homemade wooden and mesh cage from a closet in the Lowes home at 190 Airport Road.

The two boys and their older sister were taken into protective custody at that time by the Department of Human Services.

The sister allegedly told authorities that her brothers were placed in the cage when they would have outbursts and would be left inside for 20-30 minutes until they calmed down.

The Loweses were arrested Tuesday as this paper was going top press and were expected to be released on $5,000 bond each, pending further proceedings in their case.

This story will be updated in Sunday’s print and digital editions and online at kingfisherpress.net as more details become available.