Four Florida adults allegedly held nine children captive inside their home, locked them in makeshift cages, forced their adopted youngsters to do chores and sprayed them with vinegar as a twisted punishment.
Officials uncovered the brutal treatment of the children inside a mobile home in Fort White, Florida on July 3, according to the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office.
Five of the children are biological to the family, while four of them were adopted in a private process in Arizona. They range in age from 7 to 16.
Brain Matthew Griffeth, 47, Jill Elizabeth Griffeth, 41, Dallin Russel Griffeth, 21, and Liberty Ann Griffeth, 19, were arrested and charged with aggravated child abuse on July 22.
Police were first notified of the suspected horrors inside the home when a church official reported one of the children was armed with a functioning electric stun gun at a church camp in Branford, Florida.
Brian Griffeth claimed the stun gun was a toy and fake, but officials later determined it was real, according to an arrest warrant obtained by Law & Crime.
Officials grew more concerned about the treatment of the four adopted children during a wellness check, where they discovered the four foster kids doing chores while the five biological children were playing or watching TV, police said.
The four adults allegedly abused the children inside the 3-bedroom, 2-bath residence after moving the family from Arizona to Florida.
The home, located in the deep woods of Columbia County, 35 miles northwest of Gainesville, was built in 2001 and last sold in March 2024, according to an online real estate listing.
The Griffeths allegedly caged the children underneath a bunk bed by screwing a piece of plywood to prevent escape, sprayed vinegar in their faces as punishment and gave them non-prescribed medication.
Jill Griffeth is also accused of forcing the children to lie on the floor and pressing a sheet of plywood on top of the child, resulting in pain and splinters, police revealed.
Brian Griffeth allegedly beat his adopted and foster children with a cane but was careful not to leave a mark on his alleged victims, the outlet reported.
The adults allegedly instructed the children to lie about the living conditions inside the home and never provided proper schooling for the kids in reading or writing.
One of the children, 14, claimed he was “routinely” locked underneath a bunk bed where the adults screwed on a piece to create the makeshift cage and was locked inside for a majority of the day and night, only being let out for lunch and dinner and whenever “he wants to play,” he told investigators, according to Law & Crime.
The teen said if he needed to use the bathroom at night, he would have to hold it and wait until the next morning when he was freed from underneath the bunk bed cage.
He also told detectives he was uneducated, was in the fourth grade, and didn’t know his birthday according to News4Jax.
A 14-year-old girl said she was “illiterate,” claiming she hadn’t been to school in years, according to the outlet.
A 10th child, who had lived with the family as a foster child, was found living with their biological parents in Arizona, unharmed, police said.
The girl had moved to Florida with the family in 2024, but called her mother, begging to come get her,” Law & Crime reported.
The girl’s biological mother accused at least one of the Griffeth adults of sexual assault on one of the children, the outlet reported, citing court documents.
The Griffeth adults were booked into the Columbia County Detention Facility on $500,000 bonds.
Jill Griffeth’s bond is listed as $1,500,000 according to court records viewed by The Post.
The children were removed from the house under a Florida Department of Children and Families order.
Child Protection Team investigators interviewed all nine children before arrests were made in the alleged abuse.
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