Officials say the children improved quickly after they were removed in 2024.
YORK, Pa. — A two-year investigation into the treatment of two young children in York County ended this week with felony charges against their mother, grandmother and uncle, after authorities said the children were repeatedly restrained, denied routine care and kept inside their home for roughly two years.
Officials said the children were removed from the household in March 2024, allowing investigators to build a record-heavy case that included child welfare observations, hospital findings and an expert assessment from a pediatric child-protection program. York County District Attorney Tim Barker said the investigation moved carefully because the children were already safe, and because the allegations required extensive review of medical and dental records before police filed charges on Feb. 25. The defendants remain jailed on $250,000 bail each as the case heads into early court hearings.
Newberry Township police charged Ashley Cardona, 31; Lori Cardona, 53; and Michael Cardona, 29, after detectives said they uncovered evidence that a boy and girl were confined for long periods in ways that limited movement and normal development. Authorities said the children were 5 and 6 when they came to the attention of investigators in March 2024 and are now 6 and 8. Barker said the boy was forced to live in what he called a “crib cage,” while the girl was restrained in a car seat for most of the day. Lt. Braxton Ditty, identified by officials as the acting police chief in Newberry Township, said the allegations described conditions no child should face, and prosecutors said the investigation was shaped by the need to confirm what happened over time, not just in a single moment.
The case began, investigators said, with a call from medical staff at WellSpan York Hospital on March 19, 2024. Police were told that York County Children and Youth Services had taken two children into emergency protective custody and that their condition raised immediate concerns. The report included allegations that the boy was malnourished and had been living in a crate or cage for long stretches, while the girl had been made to remain in a car seat for about 20 hours a day. Authorities said the hospital contact triggered a fast-moving sequence: child welfare intervention, a police response at the hospital, and then a search warrant that allowed investigators to document the home environment. Officials have not publicly identified the person who made the initial hospital report, and they have withheld many details to protect the children’s privacy.
On March 22, 2024, detectives searched a home on Cassel Road in the Etters area, describing what they found as physical evidence consistent with the allegations. Police wrote that a crib in the living room had been modified into a “cage-like structure” with external locks. Investigators measured it at about 51 inches long, 31 inches wide and 60 inches tall, according to charging documents. Police said the crib smelled strongly of urine and appeared to have fecal matter on a railing. Barker later described the structure as a homemade caged crib built with stacked cribs, ratchet straps, zip ties and locking mechanisms, and he said the boy was also restrained with a wrist device connected to a leash. Police also described a second enclosure in a bedroom, a playpen that could be closed from a zipper on the outside.
As investigators documented the home, they said evidence of health neglect appeared alongside the signs of confinement. Police wrote that they searched the bathroom for basic dental supplies after receiving reports that the children’s dental care had been neglected. Detectives said they found only one bottle of mouthwash and did not see toothbrushes or toothpaste. Barker said the girl had extensive dental decay and required major reconstruction, describing it as an area where words did not capture the scope of the dental work. Authorities said the children had not received routine medical or dental care since 2019, a detail investigators said they confirmed through record collection. The charging documents also referenced earlier medical concerns about the mother’s ability to consistently care for the children, a point prosecutors cited as part of the broader background they reviewed while building the case.
Officials said child welfare visits in early 2024 helped establish a pattern. Police wrote that Children and Youth Services started visiting the home on Feb. 24, 2024, and made multiple visits before the March 19 hospital call. During those visits, agency staff reported seeing both children confined in restraints for prolonged periods, according to investigators. Police described the home as unclean and said it smelled strongly of smoke. Investigators also wrote that the children were found restrained while caregivers were asleep or absent, and that food was sometimes passed to the boy through crib slats. Prosecutors said the children reportedly had not left the home in about two years, which they said compounded the developmental concerns and supported the claim that the confinement affected nearly every part of daily life.
Medical findings, authorities said, were essential to understanding how the alleged confinement translated into physical harm. Police cited hospital records describing limited mobility and limited range of motion in the girl’s neck, along with injuries to her body and developmental delays. Medical providers attributed musculoskeletal findings to prolonged restraint in a car seat, according to the charging documents. Barker said both children were severely malnourished and were not potty-trained when they were removed. Officials did not release detailed medical measurements, but they said the children’s condition improved quickly once they were taken from the home, a change investigators said they observed as records continued to come in. Prosecutors said the improvement after removal became part of the overall picture when specialists assessed whether the conduct matched definitions used in severe abuse cases.
Rather than filing charges immediately after removal, investigators said they continued working through 2025 to collect records and obtain expert analysis. Police said they were informed on July 9, 2025, that the children were placed together with a family in York. Detectives then worked between July and November 2025 to obtain and review medical records connected to the children, according to police. On Oct. 17, 2025, authorities said those records, along with photographs and other documentation, were sent to Penn State Health’s Children’s Hospital Center for Protection of Children for expert review. Dr. Kathryn Crowell, identified by officials as an associate professor of pediatrics and a member of a child protection board, said the treatment met criteria used to describe child torture in specialized assessments.
In explaining that conclusion, prosecutors and police cited a definition that focuses on sustained, intentional harm rather than a single episode. Charging documents described child torture as a longitudinal pattern of physical abuse paired with multiple forms of psychological maltreatment, affecting all aspects of a child’s daily life and causing significant physical, emotional and developmental harm. Officials said the alleged restraints, the reported isolation inside the home and the denial of routine medical and dental care fit that framework. Barker said the investigation was extensive and time-consuming because the case involved years of records and needed expert confirmation. He said investigators did not want to move “prematurely” before they understood the full scope of what occurred, especially given that the children were already out of danger.
Police filed charges on Feb. 25, and prosecutors described the case as involving multiple felonies. Ashley Cardona and Lori Cardona face aggravated assault and child endangerment counts among other charges tied to restraint and confinement, authorities said. Michael Cardona faces charges that include conspiracy-related allegations connected to unlawful restraint and false imprisonment, prosecutors said, and police said he acknowledged helping build the modified crib. All three defendants were reported to be held at York County Prison because they did not post $250,000 bail. Public defenders or private attorneys for the defendants were not identified in initial police summaries, and authorities did not announce any plea discussions.
Officials said the next phase will move through York County court, where preliminary hearings and related proceedings will determine whether the felony charges are held for trial. Prosecutors have indicated they expect evidence to include medical and dental records, documentation from child welfare home visits, photographs and expert testimony about the impact of prolonged restraint and isolation. The case remains closely watched in the region because of the ages of the children and the unusual physical structures described in the filings. The next milestone will be the first scheduled hearings, which officials have not yet publicly dated, as prosecutors prepare to present the evidence in court.
Author note: Last updated March 2, 2026.
Featured image prompt (1200×630): A subdued courtroom hallway in a Pennsylvania county courthouse with closed wooden doors and a posted docket board out of focus; in the foreground, a neutral still-life of case paperwork clipped to a plain folder beside a child-sized blanket and a small stuffed toy on a bench, photographed in a realistic, news-documentary style, no logos, no identifiable faces.