JUPITER, Fla. (Scripps News West Palm) — The Jupiter parents accused of locking their adopted son in an 8-foot by 8-foot box for hours at a time now want evidence thrown out in the case.
They claim their children hacked their email to obtain the evidence, and the couple’s attorney is now fighting to have that information thrown out.
Timothy Ferriter was not in court for a Thursday morning hearing, but his attorney, speaking via Zoom, filed a protective order.
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His attorney claims evidence was obtained illegally after her client’s email was hacked.
In a new seven-page filing, Ferriter’s attorney alleges her client’s and his wife’s personal Google account was hacked by one or more of their children.
“The minor children were never given the login credentials to access the subject Google account,” the filing said.
The motion also said the information obtained during the hack was sent to an attorney with the Foster Children’s Project/Legal Aid.
WPTV tried speaking with Timothy and his wife, Tracy Ferriter, but no one answered the door at their Jupiter home on Thursday.
(L) Timothy Ferriter, (R) Tracy Ferriter (Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office)
The couple is charged with false imprisonment and aggravated child abuse.
Police said they kept their 14-year-old son locked in a box inside their garage for hours at a time, and he was only allowed out to go to school.
The Ferriters’ attorney wrote in the filing that “the documents illegally obtained by the children must be supplied to the defense” and the lawyer “should be required to withdraw as Attorney ad Litem.”
The couple’s four children remain in foster care.
WPTV has reached out to both Ferriter’s attorney and the Foster Children’s Project for more information but had not heard back as of Thursday afternoon.
A motion hearing is now set for April 13.
This story was originally published March 31 by WPTV in West Palm Beach, an E.W. Scripps Company.
