Jacob William Weight Sr and Mimi Ann Frost, Pennsylvania parents charged with keeping 6 year old daughter in dog crate, forced to eat dog and mocked by 5 other children.
What compels a parent to treat a child in the most cruel, humiliating and dehumanizing way…?
A Pennsylvania couple are accused of beating their 6-year-old daughter, starving her, zip-tying her and keeping her locked in a dog crate at night.
Jacob William Weight Sr., 37, and Mimi Ann Frost, 33, were arrested last week following an ‘extensive investigation’ that began when PA. state troopers were first sent to the couple’s Brownsville Borough home on January 7, officials announced.
‘Unable to get out of the cage’
Weight had called 911 that day, reporting that his daughter had gone limp and suffered an apparent seizure when one of the other five children in the house tried to bathe her.
Responding officers found the suburban home in ‘deplorable condition,’ with feces smeared on the ground, a smell of urine and trash strewn about. Police found eight dogs and two cats in the home amid untenable stench, dog feces and urine.
The couple’s nephew, who lived in the house along with their children, told officials the girl had been locked in a dog crate every night and forced to eat dog food.
Investigators found evidence suggesting the girl was ‘unable to get out of the cage’ and was ‘punished’ any time she did get out to find food, Fayette County District Attorney Mike Aubele told KDKA.
‘For lack of a better way to put it, she had been tortured in that house,’ he said.
Weight did not allow first responders into the house, and instead marched the young girl out himself, the district attorney noted.
She was covered in open sores and extensive bruises, and appeared to have been malnourished, KDKA reports.
When she arrived at Uniontown Hospital, the child was found to be hypothermic, with a body temperature registering at only 88.7 degrees Fahrenheit.
But there was more.
Battered girl hadn’t received childcare in over 3 years
The girl also had broken and rotted teeth, swollen feet and appeared not to have received pediatric care in more than three years, according to a medical report obtained by the Observer-Reporter.
Doctors at the hospital according to an arrest affidavit, ‘stated multiple times … that she could have died as a result of this egregious abuse and neglect, and if she returns to her current environment, she is likely to die of abuse and neglect.’
Police said Weight and Frost’s nephew described how the young girl’s mother would zip-tie her hands and feet, lock her in the cage naked and refuse to wash her.
The teenager said the floor underneath the dog crate was deteriorating because the child’s feces and urine were never cleaned up.
Another child inside the home told officers the couple wanted the girl to eat her own waste, according to WTAE.
She was never enrolled in school, but once told a therapist she was forced to eat dog food and sleep in the crate every night.
She also said her father once shot her in the legs with a BB gun, and told police her parents ‘busted my head open a couple times with a lighter,’ according to court documents obtained by the Observer-Reporter.
But it gets even more deplorable…
Other household children participated in 6 year old girl’s abuse
Investigators found evidence that ‘at least a few’ of the other children participated in the abuse.
It is thought that some of the children, who range in age from 5 to 17, could also now face charges.
‘It does seem like they were raised with the notion that this … girl … deserved it,’ Aubele told WTAE.
Police are still trying to figure out what led the parents to abuse the young girl and not the other children in the home, Aubele said, calling their actions ‘incredibly callous.’
‘The child was tortured and we don’t really understand why,’ he said.
‘What her parents did to her was absolutely horrible,’ Aubele reiterated. ‘It’s amazing that a parent could ever treat a child this way.’
Weight and Frost are charged with aggravated assault, corruption of minors, strangulation, endangering the welfare of children and simple assault.
Seven of their pit bulls were taken to Animal Control on Friday, and all the children were also removed from the home.
‘Rescued pit bull puppies…’
The couple’s children had previously been taken away by Children and Youth Services at least once before, according to Weight’s brother, Rodney.
‘Listen, he did that to his kids,’ Rodney told KDKA, saying he loves his brother to death.
‘Him and his wife deserve what they get. They’ll answer to a jury about this.’
Last month, Weight put two ‘rescued pit bull puppies’ up for sale in a local Facebook group.
‘It’s so hard because they are cute and lovable but we can’t keep every animal we rescued,’ he wrote.
Weight nevertheless maintains he is innocent, claiming he never locked his daughter in the crate.
Both he and Frost have been denied bail, according to jail records, with the parents due back in court on Feb. 20.
All of the children were also removed from the home, officials said.
It remained unclear the future of the 6 year old child, and where she would now be placed and with whom.
