Dad Arrested for Taking Tween Daughter's Phone

[PreachersWife2004]

Nope, it's not an onion headline, although it's slightly misleading. I'm getting the sense that he was arrested because he wouldn't hand the phone over to the authorities, which is a bit of a different deal.

http://www.wilx.com/home/headlines/Dad-Arrested-For-Taking-Teen-Daughters-Phone-366837061.html

From the article:

Ronald Jackson says he took his tween daughter's phone away from her in 2013 after he found an inappropriate text message on it.
But when his ex-wife, who is a police officer, found out he took the phone and refused to give it back, she ordered officers to his home.

Thus far, most of the comments I've seen were in the dad's favor, although a few did ask about who owned the phone, etc etc. I just can't believe he was arrested over the phone.

 

[AirPo]

his ex-wife, who is a police officer

Elephant in the room? Abuse of power?

 

[PreachersWife2004]

Elephant in the room? Abuse of power?

Definitely did not escape my attention. I was going to mention the good ole boys network not just being boys but I forgot in my haste to post the thread!

Do you think they should investigate the guys who made the arrest (along with the wife or without, either way)?

 

[PreachersWife2004]

There's also the fact that the girl was 12 and had her own iphone. Our son had his first phone when he was a freshman and that was ONLY because he was going to high school 45 minutes away and didn't drive. It was a dumb phone and he could only text us initially. We have taken away his iphone privileges later on (junior and senior year) even though he paid for the phone it was on our network and we paid the monthly bill.

It just makes me wonder what the inappropriate text was all about!

 

[Tiny Bible]

Elephant in the room? Abuse of power?

Both of which are present in the guise of his ex-wife police officer.
Personally, I think the ex-husband should pursue a complaint against her for just that very thing. If the father was paying for the cell phone connection, if he bought his daughter the phone, it's in his control because she's a minor. Subverting his authority as a parent disciplining the daughter his ex-wife wants to hold as a weapon in a tug of war between authority figures. And in this case not playing good cop bad cop but rather good parent bad parent, is unconscionable on the police officer mom's part.

From the article: Jackson was given a citation, and told to give back the phone.
When he refused to comply, a warrant was issued and he was arrested and charged with theft. Jackson spent a night in jail. A judge ruled in Jackson's favor this week that he was not guilty.
His ex-wife claims, had Jackson just handed over the cell phone, all of this would have been avoided.
The judge disagreed, and allowed Jackson to keep his daughter's phone.

 

[NightHawkeye]

Elephant in the room? Abuse of power?

Bigger elephant ...

... still mad ex-wife. Has no known limits on abuse of power.

 

[Belk]

Definitely did not escape my attention. I was going to mention the good ole boys network not just being boys but I forgot in my haste to post the thread!

Do you think they should investigate the guys who made the arrest (along with the wife or without, either way)?

Not sure about the guys who made the arrest. It depends on how much they new but I think the EX-wife needs to go find a new job. Seems like a blatant conflict of interest and abuse of position to me.

 

[redleghunter]

Elephant in the room? Abuse of power?

Yeah, imagine that... an ex-wife or ex-husband as a cop. Bad news.

Have a neighbor who travels a bit. His wife started an adulterous affair with a police officer. When he came back off travel and found out he started yelling at her....she called her new boyfriend cop and he personally carted him away.

This is something you see in those horrible made for TV movies.

 

[Mayzoo]

From the article I read (https://www.yahoo.com/parenting/dad-arrested-for-taking-daughters-phone-as-171354368.html), the phone belonged to mom who was letting the child use it. Dad kept it over three months before he received a citation of theft. He still refused to return the phone to his ex-wife. Then the police showed up to request the phone back. He refused to give it to the police (his wife is not a police officer from the article I read, her new husband is, btw). In January 2014, he was offered a plea deal if he would return the phone. He refused, hired a lawyer, then requested a jury trial. Then the case was transferred to another county and a warrant was issued. Nineteen months after dad took the phone and refused to give it back to his ex-wife, despite numerous requests, he was arrested. He took the phone in Sept. 2013 and he was arrested April 2015.

This is about more than just taking your child's technology for punishment. This is a power play between the divorced parents that went badly.

Now he refuses to have any relationship with his child. He has severed ties with her over this.

 

[PreachersWife2004]

I still don't blame him for not returning the phone.

 

[Mayzoo]

I still don't blame him for not returning the phone.

So, in your house you punish your kids for over 19 months for what you consider to be rude behaviour?

And then if they complain about said punishment, you emotionally and physically abandon them and refuse any relationship with them?

Apparently, the mom and dad were never married, and dad was not in the child's life until she was 7. Now he will not be in her life any more. Nineteen months of punishment for rudeness, and physical, and emotional abandonment seem extreme to me, but heck she is not my kid so what say should I have.

 

[PreachersWife2004]

So, in your house you punish your kids for over 19 months for what you consider to be rude behaviour?

Depends, but I've taken a phone away for at least 6 months for grades. If I found out my kids were texting bad things about people, I'd say they lose their right to a smartphone for a very long time.

And then if they complain about said punishment, you emotionally and physically abandon them and refuse any relationship with them?

Apparently, the mom and dad were never married, and dad was not in the child's life until she was 7. Now he will not be in her life any more. Nineteen months of punishment for rudeness, and physical, and emotional abandonment seem extreme to me, but heck she is not my kid so what say should I have.

Google "parental alienation". I'm gonna guess that this dad didn't really have a choice in that matter. If he wasn't part of her life for that long, what were the reasons for him becoming a part of her life? She's 15 now, and ticked off at him. Not a good recipe for trying to have a relationship with someone.

 

[Mayzoo]

Depends, but I've taken a phone away for at least 6 months for grades. If I found out my kids were texting bad things about people, I'd say they lose their right to a smartphone for a very long time.



Google "parental alienation". I'm gonna guess that this dad didn't really have a choice in that matter. If he wasn't part of her life for that long, what were the reasons for him becoming a part of her life? She's 15 now, and ticked off at him. Not a good recipe for trying to have a relationship with someone.

Every article I have read, he merely states: "I can’t ever have a relationship with them again.” Sure seems to be his choice.

Kids get angry. Parents should not abandon their kids because their kids get angry with them. Anger at 15 is often fleeting.

 

[Aryeh Jay]

So, in your house you punish your kids for over 19 months for what you consider to be rude behaviour?

And then if they complain about said punishment, you emotionally and physically abandon them and refuse any relationship with them?

Apparently, the mom and dad were never married, and dad was not in the child's life until she was 7. Now he will not be in her life any more. Nineteen months of punishment for rudeness, and physical, and emotional abandonment seem extreme to me, but heck she is not my kid so what say should I have.

Never married, not in the child’s life for the first seven years, but he somehow had custody of her as a 12 year old? Yep, only in Texas.

 

[NightHawkeye]

Never married, not in the child’s life for the first seven years, but he somehow had custody of her as a 12 year old? Yep, only in Texas.

You think he's the bad parent ... you should see the mom.

 

[JustOneWay]

Nope, it's not an onion headline, although it's slightly misleading. I'm getting the sense that he was arrested because he wouldn't hand the phone over to the authorities, which is a bit of a different deal.

http://www.wilx.com/home/headlines/Dad-Arrested-For-Taking-Teen-Daughters-Phone-366837061.html

From the article:

Ronald Jackson says he took his tween daughter's phone away from her in 2013 after he found an inappropriate text message on it.
But when his ex-wife, who is a police officer, found out he took the phone and refused to give it back, she ordered officers to his home.

Thus far, most of the comments I've seen were in the dad's favor, although a few did ask about who owned the phone, etc etc. I just can't believe he was arrested over the phone.

He was arrested over the phone? The police can't even bother to go to his house to arrest him?

 

[rambot]

Inappropriate text messages, to me, suggests something having to do with her personal safety (perhaps sexting?). Why would a parent not be permitted to take action against that? If a teen can't use his/her phone in the way you want as a parent, for SURE you take it away...and you can never give it back. Parents get to do stuff like this....and it's AWESOME and awe inspiring and important for us to do it; parenting with consequences that don't end with slapping and hitting. Kids don't have to like it; kids have to learn to deal with stuff like that. Just like almost every other functioning, healthy adult.

He can't have a relationship with them again because the mother and daughter clearly can't behave maturely when they don't get their own way.

 

[Mayzoo]

Inappropriate text messages, to me, suggests something having to do with her personal safety (perhaps sexting?). Why would a parent not be permitted to take action against that? If a teen can't use his/her phone in the way you want as a parent, for SURE you take it away...and you can never give it back. Parents get to do stuff like this....and it's AWESOME and awe inspiring and important for us to do it; parenting with consequences that don't end with slapping and hitting. Kids don't have to like it; kids have to learn to deal with stuff like that. Just like almost every other functioning, healthy adult.

He can't have a relationship with them again because the mother and daughter clearly can't behave maturely when they don't get their own way.

A 15 year old not acting maturely when she does not her own way? I am flabbergasted!!! Who else is surprised by this shocking discovery???

The obvious, and mature response from the dad was to abandon his child for all time.

 

[Mayzoo]

Inappropriate text messages, to me, suggests something having to do with her personal safety (perhaps sexting?). Why would a parent not be permitted to take action against that? If a teen can't use his/her phone in the way you want as a parent, for SURE you take it away...and you can never give it back. Parents get to do stuff like this....and it's AWESOME and awe inspiring and important for us to do it; parenting with consequences that don't end with slapping and hitting. Kids don't have to like it; kids have to learn to deal with stuff like that. Just like almost every other functioning, healthy adult.

He can't have a relationship with them again because the mother and daughter clearly can't behave maturely when they don't get their own way.

They stated the reason the dad did not like the text. He felt she was being rude to another woman. They did not say who the other woman was.

 

[Mayzoo]

He was arrested over the phone? The police can't even bother to go to his house to arrest him?

According to the article, he was arrested at his own home around 2am.