GAINESVILLE, Fla. – A couple employed by the University of Florida in Gainesville were arrested on accusations that they were keeping their two children, ages 6 and 2, in makeshift cages, ABC affiliate WCJB reported this week.
Gainesville police confirmed that Dustin Huff, 35, and Yurui Xie, 31, were arrested Friday on charges of child abuse and child neglect.
Recommended Videos
According to police, the Florida Department of Children and Families opened an investigation into the couple after their 6-year-old son told his teacher that he didn’t want to go home because his father built a cage to lock him in while his mother worked.
Officers then responded to the family’s home and found a cage made out of a wooden bed frame, police said.
Authorities said the couple kept the boy in the cage whenever he wasn’t at school and would leave him home alone.
Police said the couple confirmed that the cage had been in their son’s room for a year.
According to police, a second makeshift cage was found in the closet of the master bedroom and was used for the couple’s other child.
Police said both cages had rails and springs that could harm the children if they moved inside.
“A webpage removed from the university’s website stated Xie, hired full-time in June 2019, worked as the Plant Pathology Department’s safety manager,” WCJB reported. “A removed page for Huff, hired full-time in December 2017, described him as a biological scientist who worked for the UF/IFAS Horticultural Sciences Department.”
UF officials confirmed that the couple is currently on administrative leave.