By Paul Kurtz

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – A Northeast Philadelphia man is being held over for trial on charges he starved his elderly father to death.

The preliminary hearing for 57-year-old Thomas Hauck was Tuesday.

His father, 82-year-old Leonard Hauck, weighed just 79 pounds when paramedics found him dead on a mattress in the living room of his Kirkwood Road home last December.

Philadelphia Medical Examiner Edwin Lieberman testified that the elder Hauck died of severe malnutrition and dehydration.

Assistant District Attorney Carolyn Naylor blamed Thomas Hauck for allowing his father to whither away, as well as letting his mother nearly suffer the same fate.

“He was in charge of their surroundings, what they ate and what they had access to and didn’t provide any food or sufficient food for them to survive,” Naylor said.

One of the key witnesses for the prosecution will be the defendants brother-in-law, Paul Rieser, who testified that he and his wife were barred by Tim Hauck from checking in on the elderly couple.

Rieser added that his brother-in-law even went as far as to change the locks.

Tim Hauck will be arraigned on July 17th.