Florida mother who locked son in cage-like room gets probation

Main image: Tracy Ferriter appears during her sentencing hearing on June 24, 2024 (Screenshot/WPEC); Inset: Ferriter appears in his February 2022 booking photo (Jupiter Police Department)

A Florida mother who locked her adopted son in a small, cage-like room built specifically to house the boy like a prisoner in her own home pleaded guilty Monday and walked away with probation.

Tracy Ferriter, 48, pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated child abuse, false imprisonment and neglect for the punishment amounting to torture inflicted on the boy. For several weeks in late 2021 and early 2022, she and her husband, Timothy Ferriter, 48, forced their son to live in the eight-by-eight-foot room in the family’s garage.

In exchange for his admission of guilt, 15th Circuit Court Judge Howard Coates sentenced the defendant to 10 years of probation.

The formal mea culpa has led to a deep division in sentencing. In October 2023, Timothy Ferriter was convicted of the same set of charges. The following month, he was sentenced by the same judge to five years in a Sunshine State prison, followed by five years of probation.

Although Tracy Ferriter admitted legal culpability for the abuse, she also defended her family’s actions after the sentencing hearing.

“We were living a life that was not the one portrayed in the media,” she said through tears at a news conference. “There were a lot of things that no one knew. We were a completely loving family. I love my children. We just tried to do the best we could with what we had.

In addition to the decade of probation, Tracy Ferriter will also be required to complete 300 hours of community service, undergo a mental health evaluation, take anger management and parenting classes, and will be unable to have any contact with her husband or the victim.

The Ferriters were initially arrested on February 8, 2022, for child abuse and false imprisonment. At the time, law enforcement said the abuse began in 2017, spanning about five years. However, the specific room in the garage was not built until December 2021, a contractor later told Jupiter police investigators.

After the work was completed, the builder contacted police and called the project “very strange,” according to an arrest affidavit.

“The room was constructed as an 8-foot by 8-foot space in the garage with its own ceiling and door,” the affidavit states. “(The worker) further indicated that the door had added a bolt lock and button only on the outside, no button on the inside, so that if anyone was inside the office , he wouldn’t be able to get out until someone opened the door for him from outside. (The worker) states that he was also asked to build this space with electricity and install an air conditioning unit in the windows as well as a camera on the ceiling.

The entrepreneur’s story finally came together with a runaway child investigation that began on January 30, 2021.

On New Year’s Eve that year, the boy was found at school and detectives began questioning him. Soon after, a cover story began to fall apart. Tracy Ferriter told police the structure was used as an office, according to West Palm Beach-based CBS affiliate WPEC.

The woman’s story would have changed several times. She later told police the structure also served as a storage room before eventually claiming it was occasionally used by all of her children, police said.

“I feel like no one loves me,” the boy reportedly told police, explaining the reason he ran away from his parents.

Police said the boy reported being spanked, hit with a belt and jump rope, and spat on. During his interview with the police, he allegedly asked to be imprisoned so as not to have to return home.

The teen’s siblings reportedly confirmed many details of the abuse. Additionally, police said, investigators were able to corroborate some of the allegations by viewing recorded footage — thousands of videos — compiled by the Ring camera inside the child’s longtime prison.

“The minor was able to attend school; however, he was confined in the structure for the remainder of the day,” Jupiter police said at the time of the arrests. “Meals were brought to the child and the bucket was provided so he could use the bathroom. »

The couple’s cases were separated at the request of the husband’s defense attorney, who said the wife made inconsistent statements throughout the investigation.

During Timothy Ferriter’s trial and subsequent sentencing hearing, the defense won several key victories that appeared to culminate in the judge’s belief that the parents were, however wrongly, doing their best to discipline a child who was making his life difficult.

“He at least thought he was dealing with a problem child,” Coates said last year – but he said he had to show that society could not accept the extreme methods of punishment used to discipline the boy.

More Law&Crime coverage: At sentencing hearing, judge sympathizes with abuse victim and Florida father who locked his adopted son in a small cage-like room and beat him with it a belt

The sentence imposed on the father, which was ultimately somewhat lenient, was based on a certain behavior of the victim. The boy had previously testified during the trial that he was in fact difficult to discipline.

“The last thing I want is to hate,” he said. “I still love you, and I will continue to love you for the rest of my days… Remember that I am still your son, and I will always remember that I am still a Ferriter.”

The maximum sentence that could have been given to Timothy Ferriter was 40 years in prison. The state asked for 15 years; sentencing guidelines suggested six years and four months.

Tracy Ferriter’s lawyers said they were prepared to make their case, should the case go to trial, a sort of briefing on reactive attachment disorder (RAD), which the victim would have been diagnosed, and a referendum on parents facing such problems.

“It was a completely different case than what was presented in her husband’s case,” defense attorney Marc Shiner said at the news conference following the hearing. “Even though she had a very good chance of being exonerated, she really wanted to put this story to rest so her children could have some peace. »