An Eagle Mountain woman pleaded guilty Thursday to four counts of felony child abuse after authorities arrested her and her boyfriend last month on suspicion of starving and abusing two children.

Mary Matilda Heath, 33, pleaded guilty in 4th District Court to two second-degree felony charges and two third-degree felony charges of child abuse/neglect.

Heath and her live-in boyfriend, Sekoa Aiono, 37, were arrested Oct. 14 after a neighbor noticed Heath's 9-year-old niece naked in the couple's backyard.

The girl told police she had dropped from a 12-foot-high window to escape the bathroom she was locked in. Her 6-year-old brother was at first mistaken for dead when police found him lying in another locked bathroom.

Aiono told police the couple let the children go hungry, beat them with a leather belt and locked them in the bathrooms for long periods, according to arrest documents.

The children were hospitalized and the little boy's condition has improved, police said.

But a doctor who examined the boy told police last month that the child had injuries consistent with sexual abuse, according to a probable cause statement.

Another sibling, a 4-year-old girl, was taken into protective custody, but police said she was not as malnourished or abused.

Aiono is charged in the same case with aggravated sexual abuse of a child, a first-degree felony, and nine counts of child abuse/neglect. All are second-degree felonies.

Heath is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 15 at 8:30 a.m. She faces 1 to 15 years in prison on each of the second-degree felony charges and up to five years each on the third-degree felony charges.