Dustin Huff: Ex-Florida university scientist arrested for locking children in makeshift cages for hours

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GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA: Despite admitting to the charges that he kept his 2- and 6-year-old children in improvised cages while he and his wife went to work and slept, a 35-year-old former scientist at the University of Florida will not go to jail.

Dustin Michael Gerard Huff, a former biological scientist for the university's Horticultural Sciences Department, pleaded not guilty on Monday, March 11, to one count of felony child neglect without causing great bodily harm in response to allegations that he mistreated his children, according to court documents.

Dustin Huff convicted of aggravated child abuse and cruelty

Prosecutors dropped two counts of aggravated child abuse and cruelty toward a child in exchange for Huff's guilty plea, and they suggested that the judge defer granting Huff's guilty plea.

This implies that the conviction won't show up on Huff's record if he completes a five-year probationary period.

The mother of the children, Yurui Xie, 31, who is Huff's wife, was also detained and is accused of neglecting a child without causing serious injury.

She is expected to appear in court for her arraignment on March 18. Xie, a Chinese national, worked as a research biologist and safety manager in the Plant Pathology Department at the University of Florida previously.

.Officers from the Gainesville Police Department visited the family's residence to support agents from the Florida Department of Children and Families in their investigation into claims of child abuse, according to an Alachua Chronicle report.

The 6-year-old child of the couple allegedly told a DCF investigator that he was afraid of being caged and did not want to go home.

“[The 6-year-old] stated, ‘I didn’t want anyone to get in trouble. I just didn’t want to be in the cage,'” in documents obtained by WEAR, police wrote.

A 6-year-old boy and his 2-year-old sibling found in makeshift cage

According to reports, the boy told police that after returning from school, his mother had locked him in his cage and abandoned him.

As per the report, he also stated that he would be locked up at night until he departed for school in the morning at roughly seven.

The parents allowed the police to enter the 6-year-old's room once they arrived at the house. 

“Upon entering [the children’s] room, I observed a large unsanded, wooden enclosure made of pressure-treated 2x4s that appeared to be a makeshift cage,” an officer on the scene reportedly wrote in a probable cause affidavit, as Law&Crime reported.

The officer further added, “I observed two stainless steel sliding latches (aka barrel bolts) on the outside of the enclosure’s door.”

The cage was apparently necessary, according to the boy's parents, to prevent him from "waking up in the middle of the night and disturbing the house."

Police made it clear in the affidavit that the boy could not contact his parents in the event of trouble.

The boy led authorities to his parents' bedroom and informed them that his 2-year-old sibling was also housed in a makeshift cage.

Police discovered an upside-down wooden crib inside their closet, according to the Chronicle.