Florida couple who forced adopted son to live in box arrested

‘I feel like no one loves me,’ teen tells police when asked why he run away from his adoptive parents

File: Jupiter town’s police department has arrested the couple for aggravated child abuse and sent them to the Palm Beach County Jail (Getty Images)

Police have arrested a Florida couple for allegedly abusing their adopted teenager son and forcefully locking him up in a small box inside the garage of their home for at least five years.

The couple — identified as Tracy and Timothy Ferriter — is believed to have forced the teenager to stay inside a 8-by-8-foot box from the age of eight.

The child was given food inside the box, a bucket to defecate in and a mattress to sleep on, according to a release from the Jupiter town police department.

He was only allowed to attend school but had to spend the rest of the day inside the box.

The incident came to light only after the department’s detective reached the couple’s residence after the teenager went missing last month.

Officials said when the detective was in the residence, he noticed the 8x8 structure within the garage, described by the mother as a small office.

“The structure had a doorknob and deadbolt, both locking from the outside as well as a light switch only on the exterior. Within the structure was a camera, mattress, and a bucket. [Tracy] Ferriter explained the structure was utilised as an office or for storage space,” officials said in a statement.

A day later, the boy was found in the school premises by the detectives, following which they interviewed him.

“I feel like no one loves me,” the teenager told police when asked why he had run away from his adoptive parents, according to legal news portal Law and Crime.

The investigation shows that the “13-year-old has been physically abused and forcibly confined to live within the garage structure by his adopted parents (Tracy Ferriter and Timothy Ferriter) since at least 2017”, the police department release said.

Officials arrested the couple for aggravated child abuse and sent them to the Palm Beach County Jail.

The investigation is ongoing, officials said, adding that more information will be released.

According to the police, three other children were also living in the same house but have now been removed from the premises and sent to Child Protective Services.

The boy added that he was spanked, reportedly spit on, hit with a belt and told to jump rope by the parents.

The other three children in the house, his siblings, also shared details of the abuse, stated the Law and Crime report.

With the help of the camera inside the structure, detectives were able to corroborate the teenager boy’s account by simply accessing the saved footage, that comprised thousands of videos, according to the report.