(ABC 6 NEWS) -- Some disturbing allegations out of Mower County Tuesday where a mother and father are arrested and charged with abusing their two children.

According to the criminal complaints filed against them, authorities learned of the abuse after one of the kids told a staff member at Southland Elementary School.

And what authorities say happened, is difficult to hear.

The couple is identified as 33-year-old Brian Miller and 26-year-old Charity Miller of Dexter, Minnesota.

The criminal complaints say the Millers chained their five and eight-year-old sons to their beds and wouldn't allow them to use the bathroom. Authorities noticed purple bruising and swelling on the ankle of the younger child.

The Millers are also accused of spanking the boys on their bare bottoms and withholding food.

According the the complaint, the children do not get to eat very often when they are at home, they get most of their food at school. The older child says he's almost always hungry and admits to stealing food from other kids at school.

Authorities think the youngest boy weighed less than 30 pounds and was sleeping in a crib. In the complaint, investigators found a baby crib in one of the bedrooms with no mattress and attached to the wood bars of the crib was a one-foot-long heavy metal chain.

We went to the house outside of Dexter, but it is blocked off with a gate. Authorities say when they went there, there were bags of empty beer cans and could smell a strong odor of urine.

The Millers are out of jail Monday after posting bail. Each face seven Gross Misdemeanor charges, including two counts of False Imprisonment, two counts of Neglect, two counts of Malicious Punishment of a Child, and one count of Child Endangerment.

Both expect to appear in court May 12th.

As for the two boys, they currently are in protective custody.