Jupiter father who confined child to room in garage sentenced for aggravated child abuse

WEST PALM BEACH — A Jupiter man convicted of aggravated child abuse after confining one of his children in a windowless, 8-by-8-foot room in his garage for hours at a time received a five-year prison sentence Thursday.

Circuit Judge Howard Coates said Timothy Ferriter also must serve five years of probation once he is released. Coates ruled after hearing statements from Ferriter, the teenage child at the center of the abuse and statements read on behalf of two of Ferriter's other children.

State prosecutors recommended that Ferriter, 48, receive a 15-year prison term, while the defense sought a term of one in year in prison plus probation.

Coates granted a defense motion to depart from the minimum sentencing guideline of 75 months. He also required that Ferriter take both a 40-hour anger management class and a 40-hour parenting course, and that he undergo a mental health evaluation as a condition of his probation.

'It's dehumanizing': Jupiter teen forced to live in garage room tells jurors about experience

Judge: Jupiter dad 'never took time to reflect' on his choices

Ferriter and his wife, Tracy, told Jupiter police prior to their arrests in February 2022 that the teen had lied, stole, attacked family members and threatened classmates. The room was a means to discipline the teen and protect other people in the household from harm, they said.

In addition to the aggravated child abuse conviction, a jury in October found Timothy Ferriter guilty of false imprisonment and child neglect.

In his final remarks before sentencing, Coates said he found that Ferriter engaged in conduct that was "calculating, methodical and planned" in confining the child as a means of punishment.

"There were plenty of opportunities that the defendant had to reflect on whether what he was doing was wrong," he said. "It appears that he never took the time to reflect, and he never concluded that what he was doing was wrong."

Jupiter police arrested the Ferriters after discovering the garage structure in their Egret Landing home when the child was reported as a runaway in January 2022. It had a lock that could be opened only from the outside. The teenage child was provided a bucket to use as a toilet, prosecutors said.

They told jurors that the pattern of abusive actions lasted for about six weeks following the Ferriter family's move to Jupiter from Arizona in late December 2021.

Tracy Ferriter, 48, is awaiting a separate trial on abuse and neglect charges involving the teen. She attended Thursday's sentencing and was present for most of her husband's trial.

Coates granted a motion for the couple to be tried separately after Timothy Ferriter's attorneys argued that statements Tracy made to police while he was out of the country on business could prejudice his case.

Teen at center of case urged judge to show leniency

Timothy Ferriter spoke for about 10 minutes during Thursday's hearing, addressing his wife and each of the couple's four children individually and apologizing for what they have had to endure during the past couple of years. He pleaded with Coates to "lean into mercy" in determining his sentence.

"Everything I did was out of love," he told the court.

The teen at the center of the abuse also spoke, requesting that the court show leniency. The Palm Beach Post is not identifying the teen either by name or gender.

"My father was a good person who just made a really serious mistake," said the teen, now a sophomore in high school. "He was not a bad parent."

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Child testified that being locked in garage was 'dehumanizing'

The teen also testified during Timothy Ferriter's trial, describing being confined to the garage structure as "dehumanizing."

The teen's older sibling, who also was adopted by the Ferriters, told jurors the teen often received harsher punishments than other children in the home.

Ferriter chose not to testify in his own defense. His team relied on testimony from family friends and a child psychologist, who described his behavior as misguided but not criminal.

Defense attorney Prya Murad told jurors that Ferriter and his wife had struggled for quite some time in dealing with the long-standing behavioral issues of the teen, who was adopted as a toddler from an orphanage in Vietnam.

Murad told jurors that Ferriter exhibited poor judgment in responding to the teenager's behavior but did not commit a crime.

What that means: Parents say adopted teen locked in garage room had attachment disorder.

Parents say they used garage room to discipline child, protect others

The teen had a history of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, and a condition known as reactive attachment disorder, Tracy Ferriter told investigators prior to her arrest.

The reactive attachment disorder can keep children from forming healthy bonds with their family members, and it can lead to the children acting out or making it difficult for them to accept love.

Prosecutors told jurors that the couple began confining the teen while the family lived for five years in Arizona and continued when the family moved back to South Florida in late December 2021.

Murad told jurors that the couple tried to get help from therapists, doctors and schools, to no avail.

"The idea that these parents were not involved and not trying is distant from the facts," she said.

Julius Whigham II is a criminal justice and public safety reporter for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at jwhigham@pbpost.com and follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @JuliusWhigham. Help support our work: Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Judge sentences Florida dad who locked teen in garage to state prison