If your parents take away your phone......they could face up to 6 months in jail!

[AlTech]

If you live in America, and your parents took away your phone then your parents could face up to 6 months of prison.

 

 

 

 

Quote

 

A family's ugly dispute over an iPhone 4 has escalated into an embittered legal matter involving one arrest, a jury trial and a potential civil rights suit.

A Texas father was found not guilty of theft Tuesday for confiscating his daughter's cellphone as a punishment for sending "inappropriate" texts.

The case dates back to September 2013, when Ronald Jackson was charged with property theft after taking his daughter's iPhone 4. Jackson's lawyer, Cameron Gray, said his client's 12-year-old daughter had been trying to organize an attack on another minor, and that's why the phone was taken.

"My client never committed a crime," Gray told Mashable. "He was just trying to be a father."

 

A few hours after Jackson nabbed the iPhone, officers from the Grand Prairie Police Department showed up at his door and told him to turn it over. Jackson refused, according to police reports.

The situation appears to have snowballed from there.

“I didn’t want the police department telling me how to parent my child. It made no sense to me for them to show up and make a big deal out of something that was a small thing,” Jackson told CBS. “I couldn’t believe they would go to this extent for a cell phone. It didn’t seem right.”

The mother —  a wife of a Grand Prairie police officer who claimed to own the phone — disagreed.

Michelle Steppe told jurors that she called the police after her daughter's phone was taken because she paid for it, and she wanted to prove a point that

 

"you can't take someone's property, regardless if you're a parent or not,"

Jackson still refused to hand over the phone, saying it was his name on the cellphone's contract, Gray said.

A few months later, after Jackson turned down a plea deal that included turning over the phone, the Dallas County District Attorney's office upped the charges to a Class B misdemeanor, which in Texas is punishable by a $2,000 fine and six months in jail. In April 2015, Jackson was arrested at his home at 2 a.m. and was taken into custody. He spent 1 night in jail.

After a two-day trial, Dallas County Criminal Court Judge Lisa Green instructed the jury to find Jackson not guilty after ruling that the state's case lacked evidence. But according to Jackson's lawyer, the case is far from settled.

 

 

I completely agree with the ex wife. Don't take a possession of mine. Cos I don't learn my lesson. I'll be even more pissed off and worse off than before. My mom would never dare take anything away from me. My dad is different, he has authority and he would do it. He's never taken away my phone but he has taken away my PC before.

Honestly if someone including my dad took my PC or any of my possessions ever again, then I would call the police (obviously not for small stuff but I mean a laptop or technological items). Taking things from Children or anyone is wrong because  they don't learn their lesson that way. Just tell them it was wrong and tell them how to be a better person and do it the right way.

 

http://mashable.com/2016/01/27/dad-confiscates-iphone-misdemeanor/?utm_cid=mash-com-fb-tech-link#LNkIXBoBUkqT

 

 

[Sidiox]

This specific case is a bit weird tho. I believe he kept it for an oddly long time, even after the girl went back to her mother (parents were divorced I believe).

I think that as a parent you should be allowed to take away something even if your kid has bought it, but there are limits. I'd grab my kids phone too if they were bullying someone (as it seems that this girl was doing). 

Just because a kid bought it doesn't mean they are entitled to use it whenever and for whatever reason they want. If any item is misused it should be taken away. 

 

[mikat]

my parents took my power cable for my pc, not a big deal, what are these kids on about?

its not stealing if its taken away as a punishment but given back imo.

[No Nrg]

I call bullshit, it's not illegal to discipline your children.

If anything the daughter would be cited for calling the police over something stupid and wasting their time. It's not the child's property if the parent bought it for them, it's a privilege that can be taken away at the parents discretion.  

[eLucid]

What a sad world we're living in.

[ALwin]

 

This article reminds me of this video.  Spoiled brats and mothers who coddle their children.  The dad should've just taken the phone and smashed it with a hammer.

[VerticalDiscussions]

Curse you Ex-dad! No seriously, if it was me, id beat my "ex-dad's" crap out of his face. Of course i love my father, because so does he, its just that childs parents are just bad... I mean, he wasnt very smart either for not returning her daughters phone, it was quite stubborn donkey action...

[AlTech]

5 minutes ago, mikat said:

my parents took my power cable for my pc, not a big deal, what are these kids on about?

What did u do wrong, if I may ask?

5 minutes ago, Sidiox said:

This specific case is a bit weird tho. I believe he kept it for an oddly long time, even after the girl went back to her mother (parents were divorced I believe).

I think that as a parent you should be allowed to take away something even if your kid has bought it, but there are limits. I'd grab my kids phone too if they were bullying someone (as it seems that this girl was doing). 

 

Yeah but parents have this idea that if the buy something for you it's not yours and that bullshit needs to stop.

4 minutes ago, No Nrg said:

I call bullshit, it's not illegal to discipline your children.

If anything the daughter would be cited for calling the police over something stupid and wasting their time. 

It is now. Touch them and they call rape or assault. Confiscate their possessions and they'll call it Robbery.

4 minutes ago, eLucid said:

What a sad world we're living in.

This is a great world. No confiscating others property and stealing. I bought my phone with my own money, if my dad took it that's stealing.

 

3 minutes ago, ALwin said:

 

This article reminds me of this video.  Spoiled brats and mothers who coddle their children.  The dad should've just taken the phone and smashed it with a hammer.

Why? WTF is wrong with you? I'm glad I don't know your IRL otherwise I would re-educate you into thinking like a human being.

[Anult]

Mollycoddling at it's very finest right here.

Looks like taking an item away from a child in order for them to learn a valuable lesson now constitutes as 'Breaking the law'.

I fear for the future of this planet.

[AlTech]

Just now, Pintend said:

Mollycoddling at it's very finest right here.

Looks like taking an item away from a child in order for them to learn a valuable lesson now constitutes as 'Breaking the law'.

I fear for the future of this planet.

Well let's be real here. It causes more problems than it's worth.

[Sidiox]

Just now, AluminiumTech said:

Yeah but parents have this idea that if the buy something for you it's not yours and that bullshit needs to stop.

I think that highly depends on the parents. Just because they took it away doesn't mean they believe its theirs. My parents wouldn't take away my shit, but if they would it'd be temporary and they know it would be mine. 

It's not like they are grabbing it and then selling it or something. If you misbehave as a kid you should accept the consequences too (this is ofcourse assuming your parents are reasonable too)

[mikat]

@AluminiumTech grades weren't too fantastic, was on the pc alot, so i agreed that no more pc for a couple of days because i had to focus on school.

[VerticalDiscussions]

Just now, Sidiox said:

-snip-

Exactly. That father, could just be looking for making an easy 200$ and then creating the discipline excuse. He should have not refused to lend the phone, its irrational and shows poor social understanding.

[No Nrg]

He was found not guilty anyways, so the whole premise behind his arrest was idiotic at best:

A judge ordered for Jackson to be found not guilty on Tuesday citing insufficient evidence to continue the case

Over the course of the two-day trial, the teen testified in court against her father about the incident. Jackson still has the phone, according to WFAA.

Steppe noted that was the last thing she wanted her daughter to go through and that she was not happy with the verdict because she had purchased the cell phone.

'Even if you purchase something with your own money and have a receipt, it's not yours,' Steppe told WFAA. 'Someone can take it from you.' 

Jackson reportedly did not become apart of his daughter's life until she was seven years old. Following this incident, he said that he 'can't ever have a relationship with them again.'

His lawyer is now planning to file a federal complaint for civil rights violations over the way Jackson was treated by police and the city attorney's office, according to WFAA.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3419205/Texas-father-not-guilty-theft-took-12-year-old-daughter-s-cell-phone-away.html

[AlTech]

Just now, VerticalDiscussions said:

Exactly. That father, could just be looking for making an easy 200$ and then creating the discipline excuse. He should have not refused to lend the phone, its irrational and shows poor social understanding.

An iPhone 4 is not worth $200. More like $100.

[VerticalDiscussions]

Just now, mikat said:

-snip-

Yeah i totally agree with that. In any case, if you intended to keep using the pc, they might aswell give you hard tasks to do, so you would comply and repay the bad action. This guy on the other hand, simply stole something. Imagine if it was a 10,000$ watch, jesus... 

[Anult]

1 minute ago, AluminiumTech said:

Well let's be real here. It causes more problems than it's worth.

How so?

My parents had no problem taking things away from me for a period of time if I did something bad as a child.

Whilst initially I complained even after I got the items back, I look back now with regret and appreciate what my parents were trying to teach me in regards on how to be a decent human being.

I see no problem with a parent trying to teach their children a valuable lesson even if it means taking something they like and cherish away from them for a set period of time.

[ALwin]

4 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

 I bought my phone with my own money, if my dad took it that's stealing.

If you purchased something with your own money and you were living independently of your parents, then that belongs to you. But if your parents bought you something, that's an entirely different matter.

[VerticalDiscussions]

Just now, AluminiumTech said:

-snip-

Where i live, its more like 50€, people here are like (Not cheap sheep, no tint billah) -.-

[Mjvdk]

If your parents do this and you actually bring this to court, you shouldn't have a phone in the first place.  Why don't families respect eachother anymore?

[GodSpoon]

I mean, they are your parents, its their duty/responsibility to teach you and help you grow up into a mature adult. If it takes being grounded than so be it. That is a pretty long period of time, but I doubt there will be too many more cases like this 

[eLucid]

Quote

This is a great world. No confiscating others property and stealing. I bought my phone with my own money, if my dad took it that's stealing.

@AluminiumTech

It's pretty obvious the person received the phone as a gift. Also, if you're still living with your parents, they should be able to do whatever when it comes to discipline.

Spoiled little brats these days, I swear...

[obsidian1200]

If I were the parent and the phone was under my contract, I wouldn't have taken it. I would've just called the carrier and suspended the line. Perfectly legal and keeps the ex off your back, since legally he can do whatever he pleases with the contract.

Also, seems odd how far this got when coupled with the fact the ex is married to a cop from the local police. I wonder if this would've escalated this far without that...

[AlTech]

Just now, ALwin said:

If you purchased something with your own money and you were living independently of your parents, then that belongs to you. But if your parents bought you something, that's an entirely different matter.

I paid entirely for my phone and my mom pays for the sim card prepaid plan and adds money to the account as needed.

 

That still means I own the Phone.

[ALwin]

2 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

I paid entirely for my phone and my mom pays for the sim card prepaid plan and adds money to the account as needed.

 

That still means I own the Phone.

Well you may own the phone, but don't complain if your mom decides to NOT add money to the account.  She paid for the sim card and your privilege of being able to make calls.

She will have every right to tell you to go find a job so you can add money to that prepaid card yourself.