Four adults were arrested after being accused of abusing nine children in their house in Florida by gruning them with plywood under a bunk and spraying them on the face with vinegar as a form of punishment, the authorities said on Friday.
The husband and wife Brian and Jill Griffeth, along with Dallin, 21, and Liberty Griffeth, 19, were arrested and accused of aggravated child abuse, said the Sheriff’s office of Columbia County in a statement on Friday.
It is suspected that the four adults abuse five biological children and four adopted, from 7 to 16 years old, at their home in Fort White, Florida, approximately 35 miles northwest of Gainesville, said the sheriff’s office.
The suspects are accused of overcoming children with a cane, locking them in their rooms and giving them non -prescribed medications, according to the Sheriff’s office.
The children also received instructions to lie about what was happening at home and had not been taken or provided by adequate education to read or write, said the Sheriff’s office.
The nine of the children have been ordered by the court to be eliminated from the house, authorities added.
Research on Griffoth began when a mandatory reporter in his local church, the Church of Jesus Christ of the last days in Branford, Florida, expressed concerns about children, according to the statement. A “mandatory reporter” is a professional who is legally obliged to report suspicious cases of child abuse or negligence.
While in the church camp a few days before the arrests, one of the children was caught with a functional electronic stunning gun, said the Sheriff’s office.
The Sheriff’s office added that researchers believed that adopted children were “being unfairly treated compared to Griffeh biological children, in addition to children do not know their full name or their own birthdays.”
When researchers from the children and families department interviewed the family in their home, “it was observed that adopted children were working on homework, while biological children were playing or watching television,” according to the statement.
The bonus for all adults was set at $ 500,000 each.
The Griffeth could be contacted immediately to comment. It is not clear if they have obtained legal representation.
