JONESVILLE, S.C. - A couple was arrested after police said their two adopted children were malnourished and abused, and were locked out of the house while their mother was shopping.

Police found a 12-year-old girl who weighed 40 pounds and her 10-year-old brother, who weighed 45 pounds, unattended near a church playground Saturday. The children, at first hesitant to talk to an officer, told authorities they "had not had anything to eat that day and had no way of getting anything," according to a police report.

Connie Lucille Oliver was charged with felony unlawful neglect, and her husband, John William Oliver, was charged with cruelty to children, a misdemeanor, according to the Union County sheriff's office.

Both were released from jail Tuesday.

The couple's phone number was unlisted, and it was unclear whether they had an attorney.

"Both children stated they had been locked in their rooms and not allowed to eat," according to a police report.

The officer who found the children gave them something to eat and placed them in emergency protective custody.

"For their age, to be that weight means it's been a long pattern of abuse," Union County Sheriff Howard Wells told The Union Daily Times.

A Department of Social Services case worker said the agency had received several reports on the children but was never able to do anything with the case, according to the police report.