An Iowa couple were sentenced to probation Thursday for neglect of a dependent person after their then-3-month-old child tested positive for cocaine.

Stazia Kirk, 20, and Zak Herman, 21, pleaded guilty in May to felony neglect of a dependent person. Child endangerment charges were dismissed. Kirk and Herman also received 10-year prison sentences that were suspended.

Kirk and Herman lived in Pella after the baby was born in October. In December, the child was seen at a Cedar Rapids emergency room; the girl had lost weight since birth.

The baby girl was removed from the couple's care shortly after the charges were brought. A doctor told investigators that the child was "at significant risk of death" without medical intervention and that the dehydrated baby's kidneys and liver were under intense stress, court records show.

Marion County Attorney Ed Bull said in May that the girl was thriving in her new placement.

A Pella detective began an investigation in the winter. He said that when he interviewed the young parents, they offered conflicting reports on when the baby would sleep and how much she was fed.

Kirk's parents told police the infant’s ribs were protruding to the point where a person could feel bones and her skin was "hanging" off of her body, according to the criminal complaint. The baby also tested positive for cocaine and the parents at the time admitted to using the drug recently, court records show.

A social worker told the detective the girl was so dehydrated that she was in emotional distress but could not produce tears.

Herman and Kirk told police their daughter had not seen a doctor since October 2018, missing regularly scheduled appointments for newborns, court records show.

The child was born September 2018 weighing 7 pounds, 4 ounces. By Dec. 16, when the baby was taken to the Cedar Rapids emergency room, she weighed just 6 pounds, 13 ounces, police said. The baby was transferred to the University of Iowa Hospitals the next day.

By the time the girl was discharged — about 10 days later — she had returned to her birth weight. She has since been taken out of her parents' care and her weight was up to 13 pounds, 4 ounces as of Feb. 8, according to a criminal complaint.

Charles Isaacson, Herman's attorney, did not wish to comment on the case. Blake Lubinus, Kirk's attorney, was not immediately available for comment Friday afternoon.

Follow the Register on Facebook and Twitter for more news. Tyler Davis can be contacted at 515-284-8378, tjdavis@dmreg.com or on Twitter @TDavisDMR.

Danielle Gehr can be reached by email at dgehr@dmreg.com, by phone at 515-284-8367 or on Twitter at @Dani_Gehr.