A Florida father has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison after his 5-month-old twins were hospitalized in January with severe malnutrition and dehydration.
Leroy Somersall III, 24, pleaded no contest to two counts of neglect of a child with great bodily harm. A judge sentenced him Thursday to 3½ years behind bars, followed by one year of probation.
The case began on Jan. 6, when Somersall and the twins’ mother, Madison Smith, brought their infant son and daughter to Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children in Orlando. The couple had sought medical attention after their son was found unresponsive.
Doctors and medical staff found that both babies were in extremely poor condition. The twins, who had been born about one month premature, each weighed roughly 5.7 pounds when they arrived at the hospital. The girl weighed more at birth than she did months later.
The infants were also severely dehydrated and malnourished. Medical staff told investigators that the boy’s condition was so serious that his bones were visibly prominent.
Investigators later questioned the parents about how they had been feeding the babies. Smith told them the twins were receiving formula every two hours and said a pediatrician had previously recommended increasing the amount to between 70 and 80 milliliters per feeding.
However, she said she had not spoken with the pediatrician since September 2025, when the twins were still newborns.
Both parents told investigators they had not understood that the babies needed more food as they grew. They also said they believed the twins were naturally thin because Somersall himself was thin.
The babies’ condition prompted intervention by child-protection authorities. Both were expected to survive, although medical concerns included the possibility of neurological damage resulting from the severity of their condition.
Somersall’s case followed the prosecution of Smith, who pleaded no contest to the same two neglect charges on April 29. She was sentenced to 45 months in prison.
The January hospitalization brought attention to how severely the twins’ health had deteriorated during their first five months of life. At the time they were admitted, their weights were below what would normally be expected after months of growth and, in at least one case, below the child’s recorded birth weight.
Somersall will now serve 3½ years in prison before beginning his year of probation. The sentence closes the criminal case against the father following the twins’ hospitalization and the subsequent neglect investigation.
