Authorities arrested a dentist and his wife after they allegedly locked a teen girl in a cage in their home in Indiana. Both faced arraignment on Monday at a Dubois County courthouse, where they pleaded not guilty to neglect and confinement charges. The dentist also pleaded not guilty to sexual misconduct.
Dubois County Free Press reports that Alan P. Friz, 57, and his wife Aimee Friz, 36, were arrested after officers with the Dubois County Sheriff’s Department arrived to their home off of W. County Road 700S in Huntingsburg, following up on a welfare check regarding an “unruly child.”
When officers arrived, they talked to a 14-year-old girl after learning a fight broke out between her and her grandfather, Alan Fritz, over a basketball. While interviewing the teen, she said not only did the couple make her sleep in a cage every night, but that Alan Fritz touched and fondled her breasts.
Here at Alan Friz's dentist office in Huntingburg people say he's a well known businessman pic.twitter.com/c6CE6I0VKn
— Aesia Toliver (@Aesia14News) October 5, 2017
Officers obtained a search warrant and found a 4-by-8 feet wooden cage inside the home, with a mattress inside it and a bedpan. The teen said she used the bedpan when she had to use the restroom but couldn’t get out of the locked cage. The outside of the cage was labeled with the girl’s name.
According to court documents, the person who called the police for a welfare check called the child an out of control “mentally retarded” girl. Police questioned the girl in the family’s garage, where she told them her grandfather took her basketball away and told her the other children in the home were doing their homework while she played with the ball. They both ended up on the ground in a scuffle.
When police interviewed Aimee Friz, she indicated the girl often threatened to kill them. The wife, pregnant, also said the teen threatened to kill the unborn child. Mr. Friz said they kept her in the cage to protect Mrs. Friz and the other children. Authorities determined that teen had been kept in cage frequently since September.
Police contacted the Division of Family and Children (DFC) to interview the girl. The girl told social workers that her grandfather touched her breasts on numerous occasions, even when she was locked inside the cage.
Aimee Friz pleads not guilty to charges pic.twitter.com/rCrsIaOphx
— Aesia Toliver (@Aesia14News) October 9, 2017
Before DFC arrived, Mrs. Friz left the home with the other children while officers were still gathering information. Police contacted Mrs. Friz, but she allegedly hung up on them. Authorities later spotted her outside of a courthouse, where they placed her under arrest and charged her with criminal confinement and 22 counts of neglect. Mr. Friz was arrested and charged with neglect and criminal confinement, and 26 counts of sexual misconduct with a minor.
During their arraignment on Monday, a judge set a $25,000 bond for for Alan Friz and a $10,000 for Aimee Friz. They both pleaded “not guilty” to the charges, according to Tristate.
Meanwhile, the teen was removed from the home. A judge ordered the couple to stop any and all contact with the girl.
Check back with CrimeOnline as additional details become available.
[Feature Photo: Dubois County Sheriff’s Office]
