Dad Arrested for Taking Tween Daughter's Phone

[Mayzoo]

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.

He had custody of her? Really, where did you get that idea from? It was not in the articles I have read.

 

[PreachersWife2004]

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.

None of the articles say, but I think she had custody and he had visitation.

I'd like the story as to why he wasn't around for the first 7 years. My gut reaction is that mom didn't tell him he had a kid.

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

Har har har.

 

[JustOneWay]

I bet there was some good reason he divorced her....

 

[PreachersWife2004]

I bet there was some good reason he divorced her....

I'm still not certain they were married. I've seen articles that call her his ex-wife and I've seen articles that said they never married.

Sometimes I hate internet news.

 

[rambot]

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???

My post had a lot more information in there that you seemed to have dismissed or glanced over.

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

I'm not convinced you read the same article as me. It seems pretty clear that the mother and child are in cahoots and, no doubt, the mother has completely poisoned the relationship between daughter and father. This kind of poisoning is very, very, very common between divorced parents. Because really, a cell phone should not be enough to ruin a parental relationship without outside help. A child may react as "How could you do this to me? I'll hate you forever! You're dead to me"....but a functioning parent will support their partner and say "Hey, come on sweetie. That's your dad and he'll be in your life forever".

 

[rambot]

I'm still not certain they were married. I've seen articles that call her his ex-wife and I've seen articles that said they never married.

Sometimes I hate internet news.

Here here.

 

[JustOneWay]

I'm still not certain they were married. I've seen articles that call her his ex-wife and I've seen articles that said they never married.

Sometimes I hate internet news.

I understand. This really is a bizarre case. There must be something he did other than the phone, right?

 

[NightHawkeye]

I understand. This really is a bizarre case. There must be something he did other than the phone, right?

It could just be the mom ...

 

[ThatRobGuy]

Elephant in the room? Abuse of power?

No kidding...remind me to never marry a female cop lol

 

[katherine2001]

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.

I thought the police can do no wrong!

 

[Ada Lovelace]

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.

I read the article yesterday and felt that it was shoddily written with a clickbait title, but ultimately a worthwhile read for me because it renewed the profound gratitude I have for my amicably divorced parents. Any molecule of compassion towards the father evaporated when I read that he had terminated his relationship with his daughter because of the situation. There is absolutely nothing that would ever lead my parents (or my stepparents) to contemplate for a nanosecond severing their ties with me or my siblings. It is sacred to all of us. They certainly would not jeopardize it over a disciplinary lesson or a material object. We are far more valuable than that. You are precisely right that it was about a power play between divorced parents. I think the punishment perhaps was genuine and warranted initially, but merely became thinly veiled guise. Both parents were responsible for the grotesquely disproportionate escalation, and their mutual egocentricity.

Over the years there have been numerous times when possessions were confiscated by one of my parents when another had purchased the item. They always simply explained the reason for the punishment and gave the item to the other parent when custody was exchanged. The majority of the time that parent then enforced whatever consequence had been given. They resolved any conflict or disputes privately, and then presented a united front to us. This wasn't just about respect between them, but a desire for us to have stability, a refined moral compass, and respect for all of them. It's much harder for a kid to respect their parent's authority when the other parent demeans it.

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

He could have returned the phone to the mother rather than to his daughter since it was actually the mother's possession. Since the parents clearly were not cooperative with one another she likely would not have upheld his punishment while the daughter was with him, but when she returned to his home he could have taken it away again for the duration of the stay if he felt she still needed to learn a lesson about the text. Any positive lesson that was to be taught by confiscating the phone was then canceled out by the series of subsequent negative lessons (abysmal conflict resolution, keeping a possession that doesn't belong to you).

Out of curiosity, how would you react if the price point was higher than that of the phone? Where is the line drawn? As an example, last August my stepdad took away my car that my dad had bought for me. He simply gave the keys to my dad, who then kept them from me for the agreed upon time. I thought it was ridiculous overkill but at least there wasn't a feud between them, and my relationship with each remained sturdy. What if my stepdad and mom had decided to just indefinitely keep my car that my dad had bought, despite his protests? Would that be acceptable to you?

 

[Mayzoo]

I read the article yesterday and felt that it was shoddily written with a clickbait title, but ultimately a worthwhile read for me because it renewed the profound gratitude I have for my amicably divorced parents. Any molecule of compassion towards the father evaporated when I read that he had terminated his relationship with his daughter because of the situation. There is absolutely nothing that would ever lead my parents (or my stepparents) to contemplate for a nanosecond severing their ties with me or my siblings. It is sacred to all of us. They certainly would not jeopardize it over a disciplinary lesson or a material object. We are far more valuable than that. You are precisely right that it was about a power play between divorced parents. I think the punishment perhaps was genuine and warranted initially, but merely became thinly veiled guise. Both parents were responsible for the grotesquely disproportionate escalation, and their mutual egocentricity.

Over the years there have been numerous times when possessions were confiscated by one of my parents when another had purchased the item. They always simply explained the reason for the punishment and gave the item to the other parent when custody was exchanged. The majority of the time that parent then enforced whatever consequence had been given. They resolved any conflict or disputes privately, and then presented a united front to us. This wasn't just about respect between them, but a desire for us to have stability, a refined moral compass, and respect for all of them. It's much harder for a kid to respect their parent's authority when the other parent demeans it.



He could have returned the phone to the mother rather than to his daughter since it was actually the mother's possession. Since the parents clearly were not cooperative with one another she likely would not have upheld his punishment while the daughter was with him, but when she returned to his home he could have taken it away again for the duration of the stay if he felt she still needed to learn a lesson about the text. Any positive lesson that was to be taught by confiscating the phone was then canceled out by the series of subsequent negative lessons (abysmal conflict resolution, keeping a possession that doesn't belong to you).

Out of curiosity, how would you react if the price point was higher than that of the phone? Where is the line drawn? As an example, last August my stepdad took away my car that my dad had bought for me. He simply gave the keys to my dad, who then kept them from me for the agreed upon time. I thought it was ridiculous overkill but at least there wasn't a feud between them, and my relationship with each remained sturdy. What if my stepdad and mom had decided to just indefinitely keep my car that my dad had bought, despite his protests? Would that be acceptable to you?

My folks had a terrible divorce, and my father disappeared after the divorce was final. He no longer wanted to have anything to do with our mom, whom he thought was literally crazy, so he abandoned the kids to live with a woman he thought was crazy and he could not tolerate.

IMO, there is no "good" reason for a parent to abandon their kids.

 

[keith99]

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.

Oh you evil person. Actually digging and getting the details of the case. Things will go hard for you here.

 

[keith99]

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.

None of the articles say, but I think she had custody and he had visitation.

I'd like the story as to why he wasn't around for the first 7 years. My gut reaction is that mom didn't tell him he had a kid.

Possible, or possible he was really messed up and finally got clean.

Very difficult to tell as once divorced parents start fighting over the kids the truth is in ICU and thing escalate.

And news articles are often sloppy. If we just knew if it was visitation or his time under a dual custody agreement we might be able to make a better call. If the mother had custody and he only had visitation and he took away the phone during a visit it seems to me the proper thing at that point is to return it to the mother when the visit is over. Such would still be the best thing with dual custody in my opinion, but not as clear a line.

 

[Mayzoo]

Possible, or possible he was really messed up and finally got clean.

Very difficult to tell as once divorced parents start fighting over the kids the truth is in ICU and thing escalate.

And news articles are often sloppy. If we just knew if it was visitation or his time under a dual custody agreement we might be able to make a better call. If the mother had custody and he only had visitation and he took away the phone during a visit it seems to me the proper thing at that point is to return it to the mother when the visit is over. Such would still be the best thing with dual custody in my opinion, but not as clear a line.

Yeah, really odd to me that people can have sex with each other, but not civil conversations with each other after they create a child or two. Sad reality of the times I guess.

 

[Mayzoo]

Oh you evil person. Actually digging and getting the details of the case. Things will go hard for you here.

I am kinda new the news/politics section, but not new to CF . Been around enough to have a real good idea how things work.

 

[NightHawkeye]

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.

You seem to have left out some critical information from your link ...

After just a two-day trial — in which Jackson’s daughter, now 15, testified — Dallas County Criminal Court Judge Lisa Green ordered the jury to find Jackson not guilty, citing insufficient evidence to prove a theft charge.​

Of course it was his ex-wife's phone. How many teenagers do you know who buy their own phones? After all the time involved here, the wife can't even claim she was still paying for the phone on her cell plan.

The mom, ex-wife, ex-girlfriend, whatever, was simply being vindictive. Not that the father was any great example for society. When two idiots collide ... the results are sometimes ugly.

 

[CRAZY_CAT_WOMAN]

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.

It was the mothers phone. 3 month lather he still had a phone, that didn't belong to him. I do believe she should lose phone privilege. But it's not his so he should have gave it back to the mother.

 

[PreachersWife2004]

I understand. This really is a bizarre case. There must be something he did other than the phone, right?

From everything I have read, it does not appear so, but who can say for certain? I can't even tell if the mom is the cop, or if her new husband is a cop, or both...

I thought the police can do no wrong!

Apparently you thought wrong. No one says police can do no wrong.

Not even me.

It was the mothers phone. 3 month lather he still had a phone, that didn't belong to him. I do believe she should lose phone privilege. But it's not his so he should have gave it back to the mother.

It's sort of a "duh" that it's the mom's phones. Kids can't go buy cell phones and have their own contracts.

We're missing the bigger picture here. She wrote something that the father felt was inappropriate. We don't know what that is, but I bet dollars to donuts that if she had been bullying someone who then killed herself, most people would be hollering about her having the phone in the first place.

 

[Xalith]

I'm curious of what the "inappropriate text" was.

That could be anything from swearing to sexting.

If the latter... yeah, I think the dad was justified.