A mom who locked her adopted son in an eight-foot-by-eight-foot field for hours every day teared up after studying she wouldn’t must serve jail time.
Tracy Ferriter, 48, insisted they had been ‘a loving household’ outdoors court docket after she was sentenced to serve probation and home arrest.
Ferriter pleaded responsible on June 24 to at least one rely every of first-degree aggravated little one abuse, third-degree felony false imprisonment and third-degree little one neglect, the Atlanta Black Star reviews.
The religious Christian mother and her husband, Timothy, have claimed they locked their adopted teenage son within the field to self-discipline him for mendacity, stealing valuables, attacking family and threatening classmates.
The couple stated the boy, who was adopted by the Ferriters as a toddler from Vietnam, suffered from ADHD and Reactive Attachment Dysfunction – which impairs a baby’s capacity to kind emotional bonds.
Tracy Ferriter, 48, was seen tearing up after pleading responsible to one rely every of first-degree aggravated little one abuse, third-degree felony false imprisonment and third-degree little one neglect
‘We had been residing a life that is not what’s portrayed within the media,’ Ferriter claimed in a press convention following the listening to, as she cried dry tears.
‘There was numerous issues that no person knew,’ she insisted. ‘We had been a totally loving household. I really like my children. We simply tried to do the perfect that we may with what we had.’
Tracy and her husband had been arrested in February 2022 after their son ran away and revealed his grim plight to police, telling them he would reasonably be locked up in jail than despatched again to his religious Catholic dad and mom.
He instructed the cops he ran away ‘as a result of I really feel like no person loves me,’ and begged the officers to take him in as a result of ‘he would reasonably be in jail than again dwelling,’ the affidavit provides.
The boy would go on to explain how he was banned from the remainder of his home, fed leftovers and compelled to go to the bathroom in a bucket.
He additionally claimed he had been whipped, spanked with a belt, struck within the face and spat on by his dad and mom who monitored him by way of a Ring digital camera and solely let him out for classes and yard work.
‘[The victim] acknowledged the spankings would happen in his bed room and he could be bare bent over his mattress. [The victim] acknowledged he may recall one spanking was so painful he fell off his mattress in ache,’ the affidavit states.
Tracy Ferriter, left, and her husband, Timothy, had been arrested in February 2022 after their adopted son instructed cops what he had endured
The couple locked the adopted son in an eight-foot-by-eight-foot field inside their storage, and solely let him out for a couple of hours every day
When investigators later seized the Ring gadget they discovered 1000’s of movies displaying the boy being bullied and locked up each day, in response to filings.
‘In a single video particularly [the victim] was locked in his room after being discovered to have “stolen” chocolate cookies from the kitchen regardless of being instructed he was not allowed to have them,’ an arrest affidavit states.
‘This conduct resulted in [the victim] having the covers faraway from his mattress, his mattress picked up and tossed towards the wall and Timothy grabbing [the victim] towards the arm yelling at him.’
At a preliminary listening to, the unidentified little one additionally testified that the abusive conduct started round late December 2021, shortly after the household moved to southern Florida from Arizona.
The abuse then continued for six weeks straight, investigators have stated. It’s unclear, nevertheless, if there had been any abuse prior.
The unidentified boy stated he was banned from the remainder of his home, fed leftovers and compelled to go to the bathroom in a bucket whereas the opposite youngsters had been free to roam the household’s $750,000 property
When police first began investigating the abuse allegations, the dad and mom claimed the makeshift cage within the storage was a house workplace – regardless of it having no home windows and no door deal with on the within however with a deadbolt and the one gentle change positioned on the skin.
It was additionally fitted with a CCTV digital camera so the pair may monitor the teenager day and night time as he slept, ate and spent as much as 18 hours at a time contained in the pokey drywall dice, solely permitting him out to go to high school, it’s alleged.
The dad and mom later modified their story – saying the room was meant as a disciplinary measure to safeguard the opposite members of the family from hurt.
Their three different children lived usually on the household’s spacious $750,000 property whereas their sibling was fed scraps and compelled to do yard work and write traces for petty offenses comparable to ‘stealing’ cookies, in response to court docket filings.
Timothy was discovered responsible of kid abuse, and was sentenced in November to 5 years in state jail adopted by 5 years probation
The unidentified teenager described his residing circumstances as ‘dehumanizing’ throughout Timothy’s trial final 12 months, the Palm Seashore Put up reviews.
Nonetheless, the boy – pleaded with Circuit Decide Howard Coates for leniency after he was discovered responsible of aggravated little one abuse, false imprisonment and little one neglect.
‘My father was a superb one who simply made a extremely critical mistake,’ the boy stated. ‘He was not a nasty father or mother.’
However Coates sentenced the daddy on November 15 to 5 years in state jail, adopted by 5 years probation.
He was forbidden from having contact with any of his older youngsters till they turn into consenting adults on the age of 18, whereas any contact along with his youngest little one should be supervised.
Timothy was additionally ordered to finish 40 hours of anger administration and 40 hours of parenting lessons, and bear a psychological well being analysis.
‘There have been loads of alternatives that the defendant needed to replicate on whether or not what he did was incorrect,’ Coates stated on the sentencing.
‘It seems that he by no means took the time to replicate, and he by no means concluded that what he did was incorrect.’
Attorneys representing Tracy stated she determined to plead responsible to present ‘some peace for her household’ and spare her youngsters from having to endure one other trial
Attorneys representing his spouse, Tracy, that if she went to trial over the fees, she would have been discovered not responsible.
However her lawyer Marc Shiner stated she determined to plead responsible to supply ‘some peace for her household’ and spare her youngsters from having to endure one other trial.
‘Regardless that she had an excellent probability of being exonerated, she actually needed to put this to relaxation so her youngsters may have some peace,’ he instructed WPTV.
He added that his shopper isn’t ‘a monster’ and hoped that her case would make clear Reactive Attachment Dysfunction.
‘This can be a human being who’s extraordinarily educated, loving, [and who] adopted youngsters out of the goodness of her coronary heart.’
Coates, the identical decide who sentenced her husband, finally sentenced her to 10 years probation on the kid abuse rely and ordered her to serve two concurrent five-year probation phrases for the opposite two counts.
He additionally mandated her to pay a $2,000 fantastic, bear a psychological well being analysis, full 300 hours of neighborhood service and serve home arrest for one 12 months.
The decide additional rescinded her proper to own a firearm and stated she couldn’t vote till after her probation and her fantastic is paid in full.
Moreover, Tracy will must take anger administration and parenting lessons, and is banned from having any contact with the sufferer – who’s now in foster care alongside along with her different youngsters.
If she violates any of the phrases of the probation, Tracy would face at the very least 75 months in jail with the potential for extra time if she has one other run in with the regulation inside 5 years.
However Tracy is now planning to maneuver to Chicago to start out a brand new life, and Coates agreed to permit her attorneys to file a movement to switch her probation to Cook dinner County, Illinois.
