Jacob William Weight, Mimi Ann Frost, and the home where they allegedly tortured their 6-year-old daughter (WTAE screenshots)
A mother and father in Pennsylvania are being accused of physically and emotionally torturing their 6-year-old daughter, allegedly leaving her bound in a locked dog cage for hours at a time, starving her for days in a row, and having the other children in the home assault her. Jacob William Weight, 37, and Mimi Ann Frost, 33, were taken into custody on Tuesday and charged with aggravated assault, strangulation, corruption of minors, simple assault, and endangering the welfare of children, authorities announced.
According to a news release from the Pennsylvania State Police, the arrests came after an “extensive investigation” into allegations of abuse by the parents.
The investigation began when PSP troopers on Jan. 7, 2024, responded to a 911 call regarding an unresponsive 6-year-old at a residence in the 1300 block of Sheridan Avenue in the Brownsville Borough of Fayette County.
Upon arriving at the home, first responders were met by Weight, who allegedly would not allow them into the home and instead brought the 6-year-old victim outside to them, Pittsburgh NBC affiliate WPXI reported. She was immediately transported to Uniontown Hospital where doctors reportedly recorded her body temperature at 88.7 degrees.
“When Troopers arrived, they observed the residence in deplorable condition. Inside the residence, they observed dog feces, trash, and urine throughout the house,” the release states. “After conducting interviews with all the children within the residence, it was uncovered that the six-year-old child was being held in a dog crate, zip-tied, and beat with a broom on multiple occasions. The arrestees also committed various other criminal acts against the child.”
A subsequent hospital report described the victim as being “severely hypothermic” upon arriving at the facility, the Herald-Standard reported. Many of the child’s teeth also appeared cracked and rotten.
Fayette County District Attorney Mike Aubele provided additional information about the circumstances the children were living in at the home in an interview with Pittsburgh ABC affiliate WTAE. He told the station that the victim had been “tortured” by her parents.
“The 6-year-old child was left in this cage naked without food. She would be punished if she was able to escape that cage to go get food. And to make matters worse, there’s evidence that at least a few of these children may have participated in the abuse with the parents,” he told the station.
He also said that it was still unclear why, in a home with six children, only the 6-year-old was targeted for such abuse.
“We’re trying to figure that out. It’s incredible, incredibly callous. This child was tortured and we don’t really understand why. It didn’t seem like any of the other children in the house were suffering any abuse,” he said, also noting that the family’s 10 dogs did not appear malnourished.
Aubele provided additional details about what the victim allegedly endured to Pittsburgh CBS affiliate KDKA.
“Throughout our investigation, we realized that this little girl had suffered, for lack of a better way to put it, she had been tortured in that house. There were numerous abrasions on her body, open sores, she was believed to be septic,” Aubele told the station.
“We found evidence that this little girl had been in there, cage was zip-tied shut, there was a master lock on one side, she was unable to get out of the cage, apparently was punished anytime did get out of the cage to try to find food,” he added.
A copy of the criminal complaint obtained by KDKA said the girl told authorities she slept in the locked cage every night where she often ate only dog food and was shot with a BB gun by her father. The document also reportedly said that the victim had been subjected to potentially deadly abuse.
“It is stated multiple times in the report that she could have died as a result of this egregious abuse and neglect and if she returns to her current environment, she is highly likely to die of abuse and neglect,” state police reportedly wrote.
The parents are both being held in Fayette County Jail without bond and are scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 20.
“This girl’s been through a lot. And it’s only by the grace of God that she was able to survive the torture that she endured,” Aubele told KDKA.
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