Two university scientists are behind bars for allegedly locking their children, ages 2 and 6, in cages while they went to work, police said.
Two university scientists have been arrested and charged with aggravated child abuse for allegedly imprisoning their children, ages 2 and 6, inside an overturned crib and a wooden cage, authorities said.
Dustin Huff, 35, and Yurui Xie, 31, are biological scientists at the Universty of Florida in Gainesville who are now on administrative leave after their arrests, according to college officials.
A Gainsville Police Department officer went to the family's home after the 6-year-old boy told his teacher he didn't want to go home because his father had built a cage and locked him inside while his mother worked, police said.
The teacher contacted the Department of Children and Families, authorities said. A social worker accompanied the officer to the boy's home, police said.
There, the parents allegedly acknowledged locking the eldest boy in the wooden enclosure, saying he was "disobedient" and had ADHD, police said. The mother reportedly said the boy was locked inside while she was working, and that her husband let him out when he returned home from work, police said.
The mother also allegedly told police she had tried to find a child care program for the boy, but his bad behavior resulted in no one wanting to take him.
The boy showed the visitors an overturned crib in his parents' closet, where his 2-year-old brother was confined at night, police said. He also lifted one side of the crib to show how his parents placed the toddler inside, authorities said.
The crib's mattress was on the floor, and there were metal springs and wiring hanging from the upside-down bed that could harm the 2-year-old, police said. The mother allegedly said the toddler was kept inside the overturned crib because he climbed out of it at night.
Huff and Xie are being held at the Alachua County Jail in lieu of $600,000 bail, according to online jail records.
Xie has pleaded not guilty to the charges filed against her, according to court records.
"Ms. Xie is a committed mother and would never do anything to harm her children. The use of the word 'cage' is grossly inaccurate," the woman's attorney, Logan Doll, told Inside Edition Digital Wednesday.
Huff has not entered a plea, according to court records, which show no attorney of record for him.
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