A Florida mother accused of locking her adoptive son in a box in her garage has pleaded guilty.
A Florida mother accused of locking her adoptive son in a box in her garage has pleaded guilty.
On Monday morning, Tracy Ferriter pleaded guilty to felony charges involving false imprisonment, aggravated child abuse, and child neglect. She will be subject to a year of house arrest and ten years of probation.
According to NBC affiliate WPTV, a short time after their teenage son ran away from home in February 2022, Ferriter and her husband were taken into custody by Jupiter Police.
After entering her guilty plea, Ferriter claimed her son has reactive attachment disorder (RAD), a condition that can cause frequent violent outbursts.
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"We were living a life that's not what is portrayed in the media," she said. "There was a lot of things that nobody knew. We were a completely loving family. I love my kids. We just tried to do the best that we could with what we had."
Defense attorney Marc Shiner said his client pleaded guilty to "put some peace for her family."
Shiner said that he hoped the case would raise awareness of RAD and that the public should know that his client is not "a monster."
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"This is a human being that is extremely educated, loving (and who) adopted children out of the goodness of her heart," Shiner said.
Prosecutors said the boy was held in an 8 by 8 windowless room in their garage. There was a desk, a mattress, and a bucket that the young man used to relieve himself. The teen would be allowed out of the locked room only to go to school and occasionally to eat dinner with his family.
Her husband, Tim Ferriter, was convicted in October on charges of child abuse, child neglect, and false imprisonment. He was sentenced to five years in prison.
Tracy Ferriter will not serve any jail time as per the terms of her plea deal. Yet she is required to perform 300 hours of community service, have a mental health assessment, take parenting and anger management classes, and refrain from communicating with either her spouse or the victim in the current case.
According to WPTV, at the hearing, the judge said that Tracy Ferriter could also transfer her probation to Chicago, where she is attempting to move.
