Mother who locked adopted 14-year-old son in 8-foot-by-8-foot box for hours as punishment cries dry tears as she learns her fate - and makes astonishing claim

A mother who locked her adopted son in an eight-foot-by-eight-foot box for hours each day teared up after learning she would not have to serve jail time.

Tracy Ferriter, 48, insisted they were 'a loving family' outside court after she was sentenced to serve probation and house arrest for her part in what has been dubbed the 'Boy in the Box' case.

Ferriter pleaded guilty on June 24 to one count each of first-degree aggravated child abuse, third-degree felony false imprisonment and third-degree child neglect, the Atlanta Black Star reports. 

The devout Christian mom-of-four and her husband, Timothy, have claimed they locked their adopted teenage son in the box to discipline him for lying, stealing valuables, attacking relatives and threatening classmates.

The Florida couple said the boy, who was adopted by the Ferriters as a toddler from Vietnam, suffered from ADHD and Reactive Attachment Disorder - which impairs a child's ability to form emotional bonds.

Tracy Ferriter, 48, was seen tearing up after pleading guilty to one count each of first-degree aggravated child abuse, third-degree felony false imprisonment and third-degree child neglect

Tracy (left) and Tommy Ferriter (back middle) are pictured with three of their children. The couple's three other children were removed from their house by Child Protective Services, including one child who is two years old

'We were living a life that's not what is portrayed in the media,' Ferriter claimed in a press conference following the hearing, as she cried dry tears.

'There was a lot of things that nobody knew,' she insisted. 'We were a completely loving family. I love my kids. We just tried to do the best that we could with what we had.' 

Tracy and her husband were arrested in February 2022 after their son ran away and revealed his grim plight to police, telling them he would rather be locked up in prison than sent back to his devout Catholic parents.  

He told the cops he ran away ‘because I feel like nobody loves me,' and begged the officers to take him in because ‘he would rather be in prison than back home,’ the affidavit adds.  

The boy would go on to describe how he was banned from the rest of his house, fed leftovers and forced to go to the toilet in a bucket.

He also claimed he had been whipped, spanked with a belt, struck in the face and spat on by his parents who monitored him via a Ring camera and only let him out for lessons and yard work.

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

The devout Christian mom-of-four and her husband  claimed they locked their adopted teenage son in the box to discipline him for lying, stealing valuables, attacking relatives and threatening classmates

Tracy Ferriter, left, and her husband, Timothy, were arrested in February 2022 after their adopted son told police officers what he had endured 

The couple locked the adopted son in an eight-foot-by-eight-foot box inside their garage, and only let him out for a few hours each day

The shocking revelations followed a year-long child abuse investigation, sparked on January 28, 2021 when the teen ran away the Ferriter home at the 200 block of Crane Point North in the Egret Landing community, pictured

When investigators later seized the Ring device they found thousands of videos showing the boy being bullied and locked up on a daily basis, according to filings.

‘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,’ an arrest affidavit states.

‘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.’

At a preliminary hearing, the unidentified child also testified that the abusive behavior began around late December 2021, shortly after the family moved to southern Florida from Arizona.

The abuse then continued for six weeks straight, investigators have said. It is unclear, however, if there had been any abuse prior.

The couple told cops the makeshift cage was a home office - despite it having no windows and no door handle on the inside but with a deadbolt and the only light switch located on the outside

The couple were first reported to authorities on December 28 last year by builder Jacques Ben Aim who was paid $3,000 and given just two days to build a ‘very strange’ office inside their garage

When police first started investigating the abuse allegations, the parents claimed the makeshift cage in the garage was a home office - despite it having no windows and no door handle on the inside but with a deadbolt and the only light switch located on the outside. 

It was also fitted with a CCTV camera so the pair could monitor the youngster day and night as he slept, ate and spent up to 18 hours at a time inside the pokey drywall cube, only allowing him out to go to school, it’s alleged.

The parents later changed their story - saying the room was intended as a disciplinary measure to safeguard the other family members from harm. 

Their three other kids lived normally at the family’s spacious $750,000 property while their sibling was fed scraps and forced to do yard work and write lines for petty offenses such as ‘stealing’ cookies, according to court filings.

DailyMail.com later revealed that even the contractor who designed the prison cell thought it was suspicious.

Jacques Ben Aim said he was told 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 video camera cord.

‘The husband Timothy rang me and said he wanted an eight by eight foot office with no window,’ he told DailyMail.com.

'He said it should have its own ceiling so it was sealed completely. That meant it was like a cage but I said ok, it’s his money, what do I care if he doesn’t want a window? 

‘On the last day he asked me to fit a lock but he wanted it reversed so that the knob was on the outside. That’s what set off the red lights,' he added.

‘I could not think of a single reason to reverse the lock, accept one – to lock someone inside.’

Ben Aim said he was so troubled by the specs that he called the Jupiter Police Department, warning that it could be used to keep someone prisoner.

The detectives agreed it was suspicious, the contractor said, but couldn’t act on the information because there was no specific evidence of a crime at that time.

Aim said 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 video camera cord

The unidentified teenager described his living conditions as 'dehumanizing' during Timothy's trial last year, the Palm Beach Post reports.

Still, the boy pleaded with Circuit Judge Howard Coates for leniency after he was found guilty of aggravated child abuse, false imprisonment and child neglect.

'My father was a good person who just made a really serious mistake,' the boy said. 'He was not a bad parent.' 

But Coates sentenced the father on November 15 to five years in state prison, followed by five years probation.

He was forbidden from having contact with any of his older children until they become consenting adults at the age of 18, while any contact with his youngest child must be supervised. 

The unidentified boy said he was banned from the rest of his house, fed leftovers and forced to go to the toilet in a bucket while the other children were free to roam the family's $750,000 property

Timothy was also ordered to complete 40 hours of anger management and 40 hours of parenting classes, and undergo a mental health evaluation.

'There were plenty of opportunities that the defendant had to reflect on whether what he did was wrong,' Coates said at the sentencing.

'It appears that he never took the time to reflect, and he never concluded that what he did was wrong.'

Attorneys representing his wife, Tracy, insisted that if she went to trial over the charges, she would have been found not guilty.

But her attorney Marc Shiner said she decided to plead guilty to provide 'some peace for her family' and spare her children from having to endure another trial.

'Even though she had a very good chance of being exonerated, she really wanted to  put this to rest so her children could have some peace,' he told WPTV.

He added that his client is not 'a monster' and hoped that her case would shed light on Reactive Attachment Disorder.

'This is a human being who is extremely educated, loving, [and who] adopted children out of the goodness of her heart.' 

Timothy was found guilty of child abuse, and was sentenced in November to five years in state prison followed by five years probation

Attorneys representing Tracy said she decided to plead guilty to provide 'some peace for her family' and spare her children from having to endure another trial

Coates, the same judge who sentenced her husband, ultimately sentenced her to 10 years probation on the child abuse count and ordered her to serve two concurrent five-year probation terms for the other two counts.

He also mandated her to pay a $2,000 fine, undergo a mental health evaluation, complete 300 hours of community service and serve house arrest for one year.

The judge further rescinded her right to possess a firearm and said she could not vote until after her probation and her fine is paid in full.

Additionally, Tracy will have to take anger management and parenting classes, and is banned from having any contact with the victim - who is now in foster care along with her other children.

If she violates any of the terms of the probation, Tracy would face at least 75 months in prison with the potential for more time if she has another run in with the law within five years.

But Tracy is now planning to move to Chicago to start a new life, and Coates agreed to allow her attorneys to file a motion to transfer her probation to Cook County, Illinois.