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Bethlehem police investigate July 9, 2015, in an apartment to the rear of 1202 E. Third St. in Bethlehem where children were found covered in feces. (Sarah Cassi | For lehighvalleylive.com)

The two adults arrested Thursday in Bethlehem -- after feces-covered children, ages 2, were seen throwing hypodermic needles onto the sidewalk below -- were sent to Northampton County Prison in lieu of bail, court records say.

Crystal Ortiz, left, and Daniel Ortiz. (Courtesy photos | For lehighvalleylive.com)

Crystal Ortiz, 20, lives in the apartment where the incident occurred in the 1200 block of East Third Street on the city's South Side, records say. She is charged along with her brother, Daniel Ortiz, 18, of the 600 block of Atlantic Street, also on South Side.

The two were arraigned before on-call District Judge Richard Yetter III and sent to prison in lieu of $175,000 bail for Crystal Ortiz and $100,000 bail for Daniel Ortiz. The two are siblings, police had said; the children are Crystal Ortiz's son and daughter, both 2, and a niece of the suspects, who is 2 1/2.

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The children were taken to St. Luke's University Hospital in Fountain Hill for treatment, police said. The Northampton County Division of Children, Youth and Families is involved in the case.

Kevin Dolan, director of the division, said Friday he could not discuss this case in particular but said the division's procedure is to have a case worker immediately investigate a situation, request an emergency court order from a judge if there is a safety risk, search for any relatives available to take custody, run background checks on an relative found and arrange either for the relative to take custody or for foster care.

"That's our procedure," he said. "I can tell you we did follow it."

Police responded about 11:25 a.m. Thursday to the apartment following a report of children throwing needles onto the sidewalk from a third-floor window, court records say.

Police said they could hear children crying from inside the apartment and knocked on the door and shouted for a half-hour before an officer climbed in through an open bathroom window to check on the children's welfare.

Police found a bathtub nearly full "with what looked and smelled like urine and observed the toilet to be filled with feces," records say.

Daniel Ortiz was found sleeping 15 feet from the apartment's rear door where police were knocking, and Crystal Ortiz was sleeping in the front bedroom, records say.

The children were on the third floor, all nude, records say; police observed "at least 10 soiled diapers on the floor as well as feces smeared on the carpet, the windows, the mattresses and the children." Hypodermic needles, many uncapped, lay scattered around the room, police said.

The temperature in the apartment, which stank of urine and feces, was about 100 degrees, police said.

The window from which the needles were being thrown was about a foot off the floor, police wrote in court records: "With the lack of supervision, these children could easily have climbed out of the open window and fallen three stories."

Thursday's incident came less than five weeks after two girls, ages 3 and 5, fell from a fourth-floor window in Allentown, killing one and critically injuring her sister.

RELATED: Owner of Allentown apartments where girls fell is installing window gates

Police said they also found a cigar containing marijuana next to Crystal Ortiz's bed.

Police charged her with possession of both a small amount of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, and both she and Daniel Ortiz are charged with endangering the welfare of children and reckless endangerment.

They faces preliminary hearings tentatively scheduled July 17 before District Judge Nancy Matos Gonzalez.

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.