Dad arrested for taking daughter’s phone as punishment

When Ronald Jackson found a text he thought was rude and inappropriate on his then-12-year-old daughter’s phone in September 2013, he took the cell away. But the child’s mother, Michelle Steppe, got mad at his action and she called the police.

WFAA reported that the 36-year-old, who hails from Grande Prairie, Texas, had been charged with theft of property of at least $50 but under $500 after confiscating his daughter’s iPhone 4 when he found an inappropriate text in September 2013.



Shortly thereafter, Jackson recieved a citation for the “theft,” a Class C misdemeanor. Jackson was then offered a plea deal in January 2014 if he returned the phone, attained legal representation, and requested a jury trial.

That’s when the city attorney’s office refiled the case with a harsher offense, a Class B misdemeanor, punishable to up to six months in jail and a $2,000 fine.
After a warrant was placed on him, Jackson was arrested and taken into custody in April 2015, but managed to post the $1,500 bail to avoid incarceration during his trial.
Eventually, the judge ordered for Jackson to be found not guilty, citing insufficient evidence to continue the case.
Jackson described the ordeal to CBSDFW:
“I was being a parent. You know, a child does something wrong, you teach them what’s right. You tell them what they did wrong and you give them a punishment to show that they shouldn’t be doing that.”

The teen’s mother, Michelle Steppe, told the court on Monday that she called police the day that Jackson took the phone, and that they went to Jackson’s home and asked for the iPhone back, but Jackson refused.
Jackson defended his actions to WFFA:
“At that point, I decided the police don’t interfere with my ability to parent my daughter.”
But Steppe felt she was justified, as she told WFAA:
“You can’t take someone’s property, regardless if you’re a parent or not.”