Four adults were arrested after being accused of abusing nine children in their Florida home by caging them with plywood under a bunk bed and spraying them in the face with vinegar as a form of punishment, authorities said Friday.
Husband and wife Brian and Jill Griffeth, along with 21-year-old Dallin and 19-year-old Liberty Griffeth, were arrested and charged with aggravated child abuse, the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Friday.
The four adults are suspected of abusing five biological and four adopted children — ages 7 to 16 — at their home in Fort White, Florida, roughly 35 miles northwest of Gainesville, the sheriff’s office said.
The suspects are accused of beating the children with a cane, locking them in their bedrooms and giving them nonprescribed medication, according to the sheriff’s office.
The children had also been instructed to lie about what was happening in their home and were not taken to or provided with adequate schooling to read or write, the sheriff’s office said.
All nine of the children have been court-ordered to be removed from the home, authorities added.
The investigation into the Griffeths began when a mandatory reporter at their local church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Branford, Florida, raised concerns about the children, according to the statement. A “mandatory reporter” is a professional who is legally required to report suspected cases of child abuse or neglect.
While at church camp a few days prior to the arrests, one of the children was caught with a functioning electronic stun gun, the sheriff’s office said.
The sheriff’s office added that investigators believed the adopted children were “being treated unfairly compared to the Griffeth biological children, in addition to the children not knowing their full name or their own birthdays.”
When Department of Children and Families investigators interviewed the family in their home, “it was noted that the adopted children were working on chores, while the biological children were playing or watching TV,” according to the statement.
Bond for all of the adults was set at $500,000 each.
The Griffeths could be immediately reached for comment. It is not clear if they have obtained legal representation.
