Last week, a jury found a Florida man guilty of abusing his adopted son and keeping him confined to his garage, where the only furnishings were a bucket, desk, and mattress.
Tim Ferriter was found guilty on October 12 of aggravated child abuse, false imprisonment, and child neglect, according to Palm Beach County court records.
Brianna Coakley, the assistant state attorney for Palm Beach County, stated that the prosecution is “very happy with the verdict.”
In his testimony during Ferriter’s trial, the victim said that he would never want to be locked in a room and left there because it was “dehumanizing.”
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He did not, however, claim to “have a bad image” of Ferriter or Tracy, his wife, who is also facing trial for the same charges.
“They just made a mistake,” the teenager said. They claimed that they “weren’t trying to do any harm” and that they were just responding hysterically to what I had done.
During Ferriter’s trial, forensic psychologist Dr. Sheila Rapp testified that the victim had reactive attachment disorder. She stated that she does not “believe that they were malicious in so far as they were deliberately trying to abuse and hurt their child.”
An alternative psychologist. Dr. Wade Myers stated, “It was a longstanding pattern of harsh, cruel and demeaning actions toward this child, as well as close to three years of essentially solitary confinement when he was not in school, as well as really sadistic punishments while he was locked away in the room.”
According to The Palm Beach Post, Tim Ferriter turned down a plea deal that would have included two years in jail and five years of probation.
After responding to a report of a missing runaway on January 30, 2022, Jupiter Police discovered a “8×8 structure within the garage that was described by the mother as a small office.”
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There was just a mattress, bucket, and camera inside the building, which was secured with a deadbolt and locked from the outside.
The boy had been “forcibly confined” and kept inside the building since at least 2017, the police discovered when they found him at a school.
His adoptive parents, Tracy and Tim Ferriter, let him attend school, but when he got back, they said he was locked inside the building. According to Jupiter Police, his parents forced him to use the bucket as a toilet and promised to bring him food.
In February 2022, the Ferriters were taken into custody.
In the arrest affidavit, the child claimed that at one point, Ferriter “slammed him against a wall by his neck and struck him in the face with an open hand.”
Tim Ferriter spanked the boy with a belt and spat in his face, among other mistreatments. According to the affidavit, the teen ate leftovers for most of his meals.
Judge Howard Coates set the sentencing date for Nov. 16 at 1:30 p.m.
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