Photo: Alachua County Sheriff's Office
A couple that works at the University of Florida are facing charges after authorities accused them of keeping their children, ages 6 and 2, in makeshift cages. Gainesville Police Department said 35-year-old Dustin Huff and 31-year-old Yurui Xie were arrested on December 8 for child abuse and child neglect, according to WCJB.
Police claim the Florida Department of Children and Families started investigating Huff and Xie after their 6-year-old son told his teacher he didn't want to go home. The boy told the educator his father built a cage and kept him locked up while his mother was at work, an arrest report states.
When officers responded to the family's house, they reportedly found a cage made out of a wooden bed frame. Officials allege the parents locked the boy inside the cage when he wasn't at school and left him home alone.
Officers discovered another cage in the closet of the master bedroom, where they kept the toddler, according to authorities. Both cages were outfitted with rails and springs that could hurt the kids if they moved around inside, cops added.
Reporters said Xie works as a safety manager in the University of Florida's Plant Pathology Department, and Huff is a biological scientist at UF/IFAS Horticultural Sciences Department. University officials confirmed to WCJB that they were put on administrative leave.