The sinister “prison cell”, which alleges that a teenager was kept under lock and key and under constant video surveillance by his pure Christian parents, can be revealed for the first time by DailyMail.com.
Tracy and Timothy Ferter are facing child abuse charges for allegedly beating and beating their adopted 14-year-old son and forcing him to live in an 8-foot by 8-foot box in their Jupiter garage. Florida At home.
The accused couple, both 46 years old, told cops that the makeshift cage was a home office – although there were no windows and a doorknob on the inside, but with a bolt and the only light switch outside.
It was also equipped with a video surveillance camera so that the couple could monitor the young man day and night while he slept, ate and spent up to 18 hours at a time inside a plasterboard cube, allowing him only to go to school, allegedly .
Their other three children, aged 13, 13 and 16, lived normally on the family’s spacious $ 750,000 property, while their brother and sister were fed on rubbish and forced to work in the yard and write lines about petty crimes. as “cookie theft”, according to court documents.
Tracy Feriter, 46 (left) and Timothy Feriter, 46 (right), both from Jupiter, pleaded not guilty to one count of aggravated child abuse and one charge of false imprisonment for allegedly forcing their adopted son to stay in a locked cage-like structure in their garage when he was not attending school
Tracy and Timothy Ferriter have been charged with child abuse for allegedly beating and beating their adopted 14-year-old son and forcing him to live in an 8-foot-by-8-foot box in the garage of their home in Jupiter, Florida.
The accused couple, both 46 years old, told cops that the makeshift cage was a home office – although there were no windows and a doorknob inside, but with a bolt and the only light switch outside.
DailyMail.com may reveal that the couple was first notified to authorities on December 28 last year by builder Jacques Ben Aim, who was paid $ 3,000 and given only two days to build a “very strange” office in the garage. you are
The Ferriters were arrested on February 8th after their son escaped and revealed his grim condition to police, telling them he would rather be locked up in prison than be returned to his devout Catholic parents, who are facing trial for serious misconduct. violence and false imprisonment.
Ben Aim was told that the free-standing structure would not require a window and should only have a lock on the outside of the door. He was asked to drill a hole in the ceiling for a camcorder cable
DailyMail.com may reveal that the couple was first reported to authorities on December 28 last year by builder Jacques Ben Aim, who was paid $ 3,000 and given only two days to build a “very strange” office in the garage. them.
Ben Aim was told that the free-standing structure would not require a window and should only have a lock on the outside of the door. He was asked to drill a hole in the ceiling for a camcorder cable.
“My husband Timothy called me and said he wanted an eight-by-eight-foot office without a window,” Ben Aim, 43, told DailyMail.com this week.
“He said he had to have his own ceiling so that it was completely sealed. That meant he was like a cage, but I said well, his money is, what do I care if he doesn’t want a window?
“The last day he asked me to install a lock, but he wanted to turn so that the button was outside. This is what turned on the red lights.
“I couldn’t think of a single reason to undo the lock, to accept one – to lock someone inside.”
The shocking revelations followed a one-year investigation into child abuse sparked on January 28, 2021, when the teenager fled Feriter’s home in block 200 of Crane Point North in the Egret Landing community, pictured
Tracy and Tommy Feriter are pictured with three of their children. The couple’s other three children were removed from their home by child protection services, including one two-year-old child.
Ben Aim was so concerned about the specifications that he called the Jupiter Police Department, warning that it could be used to detain someone in prison.
He says detectives agreed it was suspicious, but could not act on the information because there was no concrete evidence of a crime.
That changed on January 28 this year, when Tracy Ferter contacted police to report that her son had disappeared, claiming he suffered from “several behavioral disorders” and had problems at school.
Detective Andrew Sharp visited Feriter’s property to look for clues and inspect the “office” described in Ben Aim’s signal, according to court documents.
Sharpe found the cabin in the couple’s garage and found a bed, a chair, a desk, and some textbooks inside.
The next day, when the missing teenager was found near his school, he told cops all about his alleged life in captivity, saying he was barred from entering the rest of his house, fed leftovers and forced to go to the toilet in a bucket.
He also claims to have been whipped with a belt, punched in the face and spat at by his parents, who watched him through Ring’s camera and released him only for lessons and yard work.
‘[The victim] said the blows would take place in his bedroom and he would be naked bent over his bed. [The victim] he said he could remember that one slap was so painful that he fell out of bed in pain, the swearing-in statement said.
When investigators seized the Ring device, they found thousands of videos showing daily harassment and imprisonment of the boy, according to files.
An unnamed 14-year-old boy told police he was slapped, hit with a belt and jumps and often spat at, and reportedly asked to be jailed so he would not have to return to his adopted parents, pictured. here with their children
“Especially in a video [the victim] was locked in his room after being found to have “stolen” chocolate chip cookies from the kitchen, even though he was told he was not allowed to have them, “the affidavit said.
“It simply came to our notice then [the victim] taking the covers off his mattress, he picked up his mattress and threw it against the wall, and Timothy grabbed it [the victim] against the hand that shouts at him.
The boy told the cops he ran away, “because I feel like no one loves me.” He begs them to take care of him because “he would rather be in prison than at home,” the affidavit added.
Externally respected Timothy Ferriter has held high marketing positions in several Fortune 500 companies, according to an already deleted online profile.
He was previously named president of a publishing company called Decided Excellence Catholic Media, and in 2018 was a guest on the SiriusXM podcast, hosted by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York.
Detectives suspect that he and his wife may have locked up their son as early as 2017, after finding evidence that similar cell-like rooms existed in their previous homes.
Before moving to Jupiter in November 2021, the family lived on a large ranch in Tucson, Arizona, whose current owner told DailyMail.com he saw a strange box in the garage when he first toured the property.
He was demolished before moving in and he never reported it to the police, as there was no reason to doubt the couple, whose social media pages are full of useful photos from vacations, family meals and outings.
The Feriters previously lived in another house in Jupiter from 2014 to 2017, which was advertised as having a “bonus room” in their garage when it was sold to the current owner, Anthony Tanona.
Tanona told police he removed it because “the room can only be locked from the outside and he believes the room was designed to keep someone inside,” according to court documents.
“When they showed him inside the room, there was a small cot with a blanket inside,” the documents added.
Timothy and Tracy Feriter were released on $ 50,000 bail, but all four of their children were removed from child protection services.
The couple’s lawyer Nelly King presented in court documents according to which their son suffers from a condition called reactive attachment disorder.
A lawyer representing Timothy Feriter on the right and his wife said the 14-year-old boy suffered from a reactive attachment disorder that prevented him from forming strong emotional bonds with his guardians, and suggested that this contributed to his parents’ decision. to lock it up
The condition makes it difficult for children to form a healthy relationship with their guardians and may have played a role in their decision to lock him up, she said, according to a WPTV report.
King also said in a statement that investigators had ignored Arizona’s “critical evidence” that would ultimately justify the Ferriters.
“In the criminal justice system, the temptation of the community to rush to justice is mitigated by the trial, the presumption of innocence and the facts,” she said.
“What Tim and Tracy have experienced over the last many years will therefore be presented in court.”