WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A Jupiter man who locked his adopted son in a box-like structure in their garage is now out of a Palm Beach County jail.
Tim Ferriter was transferred into the custody of the Florida Department of Corrections early Wednesday, online jail records show.
Ferriter has been moved to the South Florida Reception Center in Miami-Dade County, where he will stay until he's assigned to a state prison.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office sought to kick Ferriter out of its jail since his sentencing late last year.
Ferriter was found guilty of child abuse, child neglect and false imprisonment in October. He was sentenced to five years in prison in November.
Prosecutors convinced jurors during the trial that Ferriter treated his 14-year-old adopted son like a prisoner in their Jupiter home, forcing the boy to sleep in an 8x8 windowless room in the garage with nothing but a mattress, a desk and a bucket in which to defecate. The only time the teenager was allowed out was to go to school.
Ferriter unsuccessfully tried to get out of jail on bond while awaiting an appeal of his conviction and sentence, but Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Howard Coates denied the request in the fallout from a fake job offer that Ferriter's friend testified earlier this month was his wife's doing.
Ferriter's wife, Tracy Ferriter, faces the same charges and is expected to go to trial in July.