PLEADING HIS CASE: MICHAEL GRAVELLE STANDS NEXT TO A BUNK BED IN THE ROOM WHERE SOME OF HIS CHILDREN SLEPT IN THEIR WAKEMAN, OHIO, HOME. GRAVELLE, THE FATHER SUSPECTED OF KEEPING SOME OF HIS 11

PLEADING HIS CASE: Michael Gravelle stands next to a bunk bed in the room where some of his children slept in their Wakeman, Ohio, home. Gravelle, the father suspected of keeping some of his 11 special-needs adopted children in cages, says he confined them only to keep them safe and showed off damage to his home he says they caused. "I felt terrible about it," he told a reporter and photographer for The Plain Dealer during a tour of his home over the weekend. "But it's necessary." The children were removed from the home last month and sent to foster homes while the adoptions are investigated. The parents have not been charged, and custody hearings are scheduled in the widely publicized case.