Custodial dad on trial for habitually locking 9-year-old son in tiny wooden box (Galveston, Texas)

Once again, we have a custodial dad and step who ran their home like a prison camp.

And as usual, not a word about what happened to the mother of this boy. You can just about bet the rent that the same controlling, abusive behavior was meted out to her. Of course we are not told whether she is alive or what happened to her--the media typically erases the mother's existence completely.

Dad is identified as DAVID WIESECKEL.

http://www.wday.com/event/article/id/96403/

Published April 29, 2014, 06:17 PM

Texas father on trial for putting son in box as punishment

GALVESTON, Texas - Prosecutors at the start of a child abuse trial on Tuesday accused a Texas father of locking his 9-year-old son in a tiny wooden cell to punish him.

By: Reuters, INFORUM, WDAY

GALVESTON, Texas - Prosecutors at the start of a child abuse trial on Tuesday accused a Texas father of locking his 9-year-old son in a tiny wooden cell to punish him.

David Wieseckel, 43, has been charged with unlawful restraint of a child and two counts of injury to a child on suspicion of imprisoning his son in an 8-foot by 6-foot particle board box that locked from the outside and had a peephole to see in.

In opening arguments, a lawyer for Wieseckel said the child had behavioral problems and Wieseckel provided care for the child that included redirection and restraint.

The lawyer added that healthcare providers were aware of his methods.

Prosecutors painted a dark picture of what went on in the Galveston home. They said the boy's father and stepmother stripped the boy of his clothing, wrote "liar" and "thief" on his body, photographed the boy and threatened to post the pictures on social media if he did not behave.

Investigators found the box-like structure when they performed a search of the home after the boy was reported missing in July 2012. The child was found the same day and taken into Child Protective Services.

"When he would get in trouble, he would be sent to his room. But he might be the only kid in America whose room is an eight by six particle board box," state prosecuting attorney Adam Poole said in opening arguments.

Defense attorney Nicholas Poehl told jurors that behavioral problems made the boy a danger to himself and others and that he required 24-hour supervision.

According to the attorney, when the boy was about 8, he "was hospitalized because he was hiding knives, hearing voices and saying he wanted to kill David Wieseckel and his stepmother in their sleep."