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Dad Arrested And Jailed For Taking Away His Daughter’s Cell Phone

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Kids these days are assholes. Not just spoiled, because I was spoiled and I get that, but they’re complete jerks not only to each other (hello, cyberbullying) but to their parents.

Case in point: A twelve year old girl and her mother called the police on the girl’s father, Ronald Jackson, 36, because he took away her cell phone in 2013. You know, like my parents did a thousand times because that’s called discipline. He didn’t just take away her phone because she was texting at the dinner table either. He took it away from his daughter “for having inappropriate texts.” There’s no information on exactly what kind of inappropriate text she had, but if it’s on a twelve year old’s phone, any halfway decent father would snatch that shit out of his daughter’s hands in a second.

The father was arrested, jailed, and had to put up a $1,500 bond in order to be released. Had he been convicted, this dad would’ve faced six months in jail and a $2,000 fine. Amazing, there’s still some sanity left in this fucked up world, and he was not. Hallelujah. But there are awful parents out there, and one of them happens to be his daughter’s mom.

It was the daughter’s mother, Michelle Steppe, who called the police on her daughter’s father. The two were never married, and now Steppe is dating a police officer from the same department that arrested Jackson in 2013. Something smells fishy here.

Regardless of the suspicious circumstances on which he was arrested, the judge found Jackson not guilty of property theft on Tuesday. The justice system may not have gotten it right in Steven Avery’s case, but they sure did here.

From Cosmopolitan:

“As a mom, I’m upset because — number one — the property belongs to me,” Steppe told WFAA after the ruling. She specified she did not understand the judge’s decision because the phone has always been in her name: “You can’t take someone’s property, regardless if you’re a parent or not.”

After the ruling, Jackson told CBS Local “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.”

A-freaking-men, Dad. Couldn’t agree more.

Unfortunately, this story doesn’t have a happy ending. Yes, the dad was found not guilty of the stupid charges he faced, but the ridiculous legal battle he was thrust into caused his relationship with his daughter to suffer.

“I can’t ever have a relationship with them again,” Jackson said about his daughter and her mother.

I hope one day he chooses to have more children, because we need more dads like him in the world.

[via Cosmopolitan]

Image via Shutterstock

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Cristina Montemayor

Cristina is a Grandex Writer and Content Manager. She was an intern for over two years before she graduated a semester early to write about college full time, which makes absolutely no sense. She regretfully considers herself a Carrie, but is first and foremost a Rory. She tends to draw strong reactions from people. They are occasionally positive. You can find her in a bar as you're bending down to tie your shoes, drinking Dos XX and drunk crying to Elton John. Email her: [email protected] (not .com).

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