A couple have been arrested for allegedly locking up their children, 2 and 6 years old, in homemade cages, Florida police said.
35-year-old Dustin Huff and 31-year-old Yurui Xie, who are said to be biological scientists at the University of Florida., were arrested after being caught locking up their kids.
The older boy told an employee at his school that he didn’t want to go home because he was being put in a cage.
Following a police investigation, a homemade cage was found in the home,
However, the father claimed it was a bed frame left in the boy’s room.
But Police later found a second makeshift cage in the parents’ room, which they believed was holding the 2-year-old boy captive.
The mother claimed her son had ADHD and was disobedient, making it hard for her to care for him.
She claimed he was only left alone while they were working.
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But the 6-year-old boy told Police that he slept in the cage overnight, adding that he was forced to wear training pants instead of using the bathroom.
The cages also had rails and springs that would harm the children if they moved inside, The Blaze reported.
The parents were charged with child abuse and neglect after being arrested.
They were also placed on administrative leave from their jobs on Monday.
The children have since been placed in the custody of the Department of Children and Families but were later released to members of the family.
“I’m not used to walking in seeing a cage where children are kept at night and, of course, when home alone, so yeah, that was a little shocking,” said Sgt. John Pandak of the Gainesville Police to WOFL-TV.
The university removed pages from its website describing the parent’s employment.
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