Parents Kept 11 Children in Cages

Michael and Sharon Gravelle held 11 special-needs adopted children in cages because of the damage they caused the home. The cages were 6 feet with not locks, but an alarm that sounded if the door was opened.

The Gravelles say they were adopting children nobody else wanted, who had problems such as fetal alcohol syndrome, autism, HIV and pica, an eating disorder that causes children to eat dirt and rocks.

The cages were used as sleeping quarters to prevent the children from hurting themselves with glass or eating medicines, Michael Gravelle said. The cupboard and shelf was covered with chicken wire for the same reason, he added.

There were holes where Gravelle said the children had kicked in the walls and gouges in the drywall from their fingernails. Baseboards were soaked with urine stains, and the walls still show marks where the children had smeared their feces.

When the older children Jesse and Jenna Gravelle heard the stories about a couple forcing their 11 adopted children to sleep in cages, they weren't surprised to hear their father and stepmother's names.

What shocked them, Jesse Gravelle said, was that adoption agencies would place children in Michael and Sheron Gravelle's custody.

"My dad and stepmother were pretty much cruel and neglectful," Jesse Gravelle, now 32, said Friday.

Prosecutor Russ Leffler alleges that the Gravelles were adopting the children for financial gain. The children are now in foster care while the case is being investigated.