Mother Who Locked Adopted Son in Box Will Not Serve Jail Time After Guilty Plea

Instead, the Florida judge overseeing the proceedings sentenced Ferriter to 20 years of probation and one year of house arrest for her role in what has since been dubbed the “Boy in the Box” case.

Also shocking was Ferriter’s claim that she “loves her kids” and raised a “completely loving family” even though she pleaded guilty to locking her 14-year-old adopted son in a box that was no bigger than 8×8-feet.

“[The victim] stated the spankings would take place in his bedroom and he would be naked bent over his bed,” the arresting affidavit read. “[The victim] stated he could recall one spanking was so painful he fell off his bed in pain.”

Video footage from a Ring device placed inside the boy’s “box” later found that the Ferriters locked their adoptive son up daily for upwards of six weeks from December 2021 to February 2022.

“In one video in particular [the victim] was locked in his room after being found to have ‘stolen’ chocolate cookies from the kitchen despite being told he was not allowed to have them,” the February 2022 arrest affidavit stated.

“This behavior resulted in [the victim] having the covers removed from his mattress, his mattress picked up and tossed against the wall and Timothy grabbing [the victim] against the arm yelling at him,” the affidavit added.

“There were plenty of opportunities that the defendant had to reflect on whether what he did was wrong,” Circuit Judge Howard Coates – who also presided over Tracy Ferriter’s proceedings – said at Timothy Ferriter’s sentencing hearing last year.

“It appears that he never took the time to reflect,” the judge added, “and he never concluded that what he did was wrong.”