Wakeman, Ohio – The 11 children removed from a house where authorities say some of them slept in homemade cages are polite, well-behaved and well-dressed and appear to have been well-fed, neighbors and authorities said Tuesday.
Their adoptive parents, Mi chael Gravelle, 56, and Sharen Gravelle, 57, denied in a custody hearing Monday that they abused or neglected the children, who are ages 1-14 and have conditions that include autism and fetal alcohol syndrome.
No charges had been filed as of Tuesday afternoon, and messages left with their lawyer were not immediately returned.
The Gravelles have said a psychiatrist recommended they make the children sleep in the cages, Huron County Prosecutor Russell Leffler told the Norwalk Reflector.
The parents said the children, including some who had mental disorders, needed to be protected from each other, according to a search warrant on file at Norwalk Municipal Court.
Leffler refused to speak with an Associated Press reporter Tuesday at his office.
Neighbors said they often saw or heard the children playing, and the family yard was littered with toys – plastic cars, tricycles, slides and an overturned skateboard near a wooden ramp. Seven bicycles were piled in a storage shed.
“Those kids were dressed better than some of the kids who live in Cleveland. They behaved like any other kids when they were outside playing,” said neighbor Jim Power.
At night, authorities say, eight of the children were confined in 3 1/2-foot-tall wooden cages stacked in bedrooms on the second floor. The cages were painted in bright, primary colors, with some rigged with door alarms that would send a signal downstairs. One cage had a dresser in front of it, sheriff’s Lt. Randy Sommers said Tuesday.
“The sheriff and I stood there for a few minutes and just kind of stared at what we were seeing. We were speechless,” he said.
The children have been placed with four foster families and were doing well, said Erich Dumbeck, director of the Huron County Department of Job and Family Services.
“We don’t have any indication at this point that there was any abuse,” Dumbeck said.