Boy locked in room for three years by dad

Associated Press, many U.S. and Canadian newspapers, Friday, October 13, 2006

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. U.S.A. (AP) -- A man has been charged with torturing his nine-year-old son by keeping him locked in a bedroom for much of the last three years, a surveillance camera tracking his every move, authorities said Thursday.

The home of Randall Warren Piercy, 41, was like a prison that had cameras in almost every room, with the father monitoring the boy on television and computer screens, Jacksonville Sheriff's Offi ce Lt. Annie Smith said.

During the last three years, the boy has not attended school, received medical attention or had contact with people outside his family, Smith said. The police report said he was homeschooled but was unable to read children's books.

Relatives told police that the boy was usually allowed to use the bathroom once a day because his father was teaching him to control his body.

Piercy was arrested Wednesday on charges of aggravated child abuse, malicious punishment and unlawful caging of the boy.

As officers walked him into jail, he said he was wrongly accused and was the victim of a vendetta by his in-laws. He told police he kept the child in the room because he "believed it was in the best interest of the child," Smith said.

The child's mother, Michelle Piercy, was not charged, but police said they are still investigating her involvement.

According to a police report, investigators were told Michelle Piercy allowed her husband to make all the decisions regarding the boy. The report said her husband only let her see the child at certain times and usually for an hour a day.

The case began when an investigator posing as a real estate investor went to the home earlier this month with the boy's maternal grandfather. The undercover officer found the boy in a locked room, sitting on a bed in his underwear. The room smelled faintly of urine, and had a camera mounted on a wall.