Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Dustin Michael Gerard Huff, 35, has been sentenced to five years of probation after entering a plea of nolo contendere to child neglect in a case that made national news because of allegations that Huff and his wife, Yurui Xie, 31, kept their 6-year-old son in a makeshift cage after school while both parents were at work.

The child reportedly told a Department of Children and Families investigator that Huff had built the enclosure for him and that he was placed in it overnight and after school, when Xie came home from work, placed him in the enclosure with both latches locked, and went back to work; he said he was taken out when Huff got home from work.

The parents reportedly said they’d had trouble finding after-school care for the child because he is “disobedient” and that he wakes up in the middle of the night and “disturb[s] the house.”

Both parents were initially charged with two counts of aggravated child abuse (the second count was for allegedly placing their 2-year-old in an upside-down crib to sleep) and one count of child neglect without serious bodily harm when they were arrested on December 8, 2023, and bail was initially set at $600,000 for each of them. Xie’s bond was reduced to $50,000 a few weeks later, and she was released from jail. Huff’s bail was reduced to $50,000 on January 25, and he was also released from jail.

On March 11, Huff entered a plea of nolo contendere to a charge of child neglect in exchange for five years of probation; Judge William Davis withheld adjudication of guilt on the felony charge. Formal charges of aggravated child abuse were not filed.

Xie’s case is still pending; she is facing a single charge of child neglect.