Wichita ? The father and stepmother of two emaciated girls who said they ate only when their father wasn’t traveling on business were charged Thursday with multiple counts of child abuse.

A social worker found the starving, dehydrated girls – ages 6 and 7 – last week in the basement of a Wichita home that was well-stocked with food. Their stepsiblings were found healthy and well-fed upstairs.

The girls’ father, Alex A. Wood, 28, had married Jennifer L. Wood, 27, about a year ago. The two sisters told police that they ate whenever their father was home, which wasn’t a lot.

Documents filed in Sedgwick County District Court allege the couple did “intentionally torture, cruelly beat and inflict cruel and inhumane corporal punishments” on the girls between Sept. 23 and July 19.

Jennifer and Alex Wood face two counts each of abuse of a child. Jennifer Wood also is charged with one count of aggravated battery, stemming from allegations that she choked the older girl on July 20 and 21.

Both adults were jailed Thursday on $100,000 bond.