A 31-year-old Duncan man has pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing for a pair of child abuse counts.

Jason Lynn Ausmus entered a guilty plea in August in the Stephens County District Court to the two counts of felony child abuse, according to court records. The crimes are punishable by up to life imprisonment or up to one year in county jail, according to Oklahoma State Statutes.

Ausmus and his wife, Misty, 31, were arrested and charged in October 2011 with abuse involving then-three-month-old twins. With Ausmus' guilty plea, Misty Leann Ausmus' felony charges of enabling child abuse were dismissed, according to court records.

The couple were arrested following a call from Duncan Regional Hospital last year. Stephens County Sheriff Wayne McKinney previously said the children arrived with injuries consistent with child abuse including broken bones, and his investigator and deputies responded along with case workers from the Department of Human Services. One child had freshly broken ribs and the other had a broken bone that was two to three weeks along in the mending process, he said  both children had "multiple bruises."

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