The parents of a 15-year-old girl who are facing felony charges for allegedly starving and torturing the girl and keeping her in a basement have set up a website seeking donations from the public to pay their lawyers.

The girl's father, Chad Chritton, 41, and stepmother, Melinda Drabek-Chritton, 42, "have been falsely accused" of abusing the girl, the website states, and "the government wants to make Chad and his wife felons and subject them to imprisonment."

The site contains a number of pages that argue the couple's case and asks that as site visitors read the information they "remember that Chad is an eight-year Army veteran who was honorably discharged and served his country well and that neither he nor his wife has ever been arrested before for anything."

District Attorney Ismael Ozanne said he had no comment about the site.

The girl's biological mother, Heidi Carr, said in a statement that the website is "just an attempt by the defense to try and lie their way out of this horrible crime."

She wrote that Chritton and Drabek-Chritton are putting the girl "through hell by calling her crazy and a liar."