Authorities accused Brian and Jill Griffeth and their children of abusing nine children in Florida. Photo / 123rf
Authorities accused Brian and Jill Griffeth and their children of abusing nine children in Florida. Photo / 123rf
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Authorities accused a Florida family of abusing as many as nine children in their home, including spraying vinegar in the children’s faces as a form of punishment and caging a child under a bunk bed using plywood.
Husband and wife Brian and Jill Griffeth, ages 47 and41, were arrested last week with 21-year-old Dallin and 19-year-old Liberty Griffeth, and charged with aggravated child abuse, according to court records and a statement from the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office.
An investigation was launched after a mandatory reporter at the family’s church raised concerns about what was happening at their home in Fort White, Florida, about 48km northwest of Gainesville, the sheriff’s office said.
One of the Griffeths’ children was caught with an electronic stun gun at a church camp a few days earlier, authorities said. Concerns were also raised that the Griffeths were treating their biological children differently from their adopted children – some of whom appeared not to know their full names or birthdays.
During a visit by investigators to the Florida home, “it was noted that the adopted children were working on chores, while the biological children were playing or watching TV”, the sheriff’s office said. The children were interviewed and “various forms of child abuse were discovered”, the sheriff’s office said, including allegations that the adopted children were beaten by Brian Griffeth with a cane and locked in their bedrooms.
A court order was obtained to remove the children from the home and nine children aged 7 to 16 – five biological and four adopted – were taken into custody by the Florida Department of Children and Families on July 3.
Further allegations emerged in subsequent interviews with child protection team investigators, including a child being forced to lie on the floor while a sheet of plywood was placed on top of them and pressed down, “resulting in splinters and pain”, the sheriff’s office said. Others alleged they were given non-prescribed medication, told to withhold the truth about what was happening in the home and not taken to school or taught to read and write, authorities said.
The children were adopted privately in Arizona, before the family moved to Florida, authorities said. The legal status of one of the children was unknown, because no Arizona adoption record was found. A 10th foster child had returned to their biological parent in Arizona, the sheriff’s office said.
The Griffeths were arrested on July 22 and are being held on a US$500,000 ($837,030) bond at the Columbia County Detention Facility, according to the sheriff’s office. Kimberly Kay Mears, the Florida public defender named as their attorney in court documents, did not respond to a request for comment.
