A Pennsylvania couple has been charged with multiple charges, accused of torturing their 6-year-old daughter and locking her in a dog cage every night.
Jacob William Weight Sr., 37, and Mimi Ann Frost, 33, were charged in Fayette County with aggravated assault, corruption of minors, strangulation, endangering the welfare of children and several other charges.
The investigation began on Feb. 6 when troopers were sent to the couple’s home in Brownsville County after the child fell unconscious, Pennsylvania State Police said.
When they arrived, they found the house in “deplorable condition,” filled with dog feces, garbage and urine.
Images from inside the horror house show a large black dog cage in the living room with blankets and debris scattered on the floor.
Pennsylvania couple Jacob William Weight Sr., 37 (left), and Mimi Ann Frost, 33 (right), were arrested and charged in connection with the abuse of their six-year-old daughter.
Police described the house as a “crazy house” filled with garbage, dog feces and urine.
Pictures from inside the home show a large black dog crate in the living room. The couple is accused of making the little girl sleep in a cage every night
Weight called 911 after the six-year-old girl suffered an apparent seizure when one of the other children living in the home attempted to bathe her.
The children told officials that they had locked the girl in a dog cage and beaten her with a broom.
“For lack of a better way to put it, she had been tortured in that house,” Fayette County District Attorney Mike Aubele told KDKA.
He said Weight did not allow first responders to enter and he removed the six-year-old boy himself.
The girl’s body was covered in open sores and she was believed to be septic.
When he arrived at Uniontown Hospital, he was found to be hypothermic and had a body temperature of 88.7 degrees, Aubele said.
Of the six children who lived in the home, only the 6-year-old was targeted, authorities said. Four of the others were the couple’s children and one was a nephew.
The nephew told police that Frost would tie the girl’s hands and feet and refused to wash her. Another child said the couple wanted the six-year-old girl to eat her own waste.
Police were called to the home in Brownsville County after the girl suffered an apparent seizure and lost consciousness.
His body was covered in open sores and he was found to be hypothermic, with a body temperature of 88.7 degrees.
The six-year-old girl told a therapist she was forced to eat dog food. She said Weight shot her in the legs with a BB gun and beat her.
Another child who lived in the home told police the couple wanted the girl to eat her own urine and feces.
‘The 6-year-old boy was abandoned in this cage naked and without food. She would be punished if he could escape from that cage to go get food,” Aubele said.
There was evidence that “at least some” of the other children participated in the abuse, he added.
Police found eight dogs and two cats in the home, which they described as a “crazy house” in court documents.
According to a criminal complaint, the girl told a therapist that she was forced to eat dog food and sleep in the cage every night.
In addition to hitting her, she said her father shot her in the legs with a BB gun.
The girl had not received adequate pediatric care for years and was not enrolled in school.
‘I’m innocent. That’s it,” Weight told reporters as he was led to a state police cruiser. He denied locking his daughter in the cage.
But owner Tim Cole described the girl as the “black sheep of the family.”
While she was “always treated differently,” Cole said she never imagined the abuse would happen behind closed doors.
Animal control officers were seen removing seven pit bulls from the home Friday night after they were abandoned.
One of the five other children who lived in the home told police that Frost tied the girl’s hands and feet and refused to bathe her.
Owner Tim Cole walked and fed the dogs after they were abandoned. He described the little girl as the ‘black sheep of the family’, but said he never imagined the extent of the abuse.
Seven of the couple’s pit bulls were taken to Hoffman Animal Control on Friday. That night the workers were seen taking the dogs out of the house.
The animals stayed inside the house, and Cole walked them, fed them, and took care of the expenses himself.
Last month, Weight put two ‘rescued pitbull puppies’ up for sale in a local Facebook group.
“It’s very difficult because they are cute and adorable, but we can’t keep all the animals we rescue,” she wrote.
All of the children were also removed from the home, authorities said.
Jail records show that both Frost and Weight were denied bail. They are due to appear in court on February 20.