Florida resident kept his father locked up for 8 months and used his money

Authorities received a call about possible abuse of an elderly man. When officers arrived at the address, they spoke with the victim, who managed to call 911. She turned out to be an elderly man with a disability. He said he had been locked in his bedroom for eight months and had been having seizures for the past few days that left him unable to move around on his own.

His son did not provide him with medical care. When police officers removed the man from the room, his eyebrows, hair, ears, beard and hands were stained with fecal matter and cockroaches were crawling out from under him. The victim also had numerous bedsores on his body from being in bed for so long.

The man was rushed to the hospital, where police spoke to him again. He told them that he had been unable to leave his room because his son had tied the front door to another door with a rope, locking him in his bedroom. He had not eaten anything for the last four days of his confinement. He had no access to water. His last meal was a hamburger brought by his son.

The older man complained that he gave Jonathan money to spend but did not buy him food. He had also taken away his father’s debit card and would not return it until he demanded it through the authorities. During the communication at the sheriff’s office, the disabled man received an angry text message from his son, in which he “thanked” him for calling 911 and getting arrested along with his girlfriend. In addition, Jonathan said in his text message that he should have known the 911 officers were coming ahead of time so he could have time to clean the house. In response, the man complained that his son had been living with him as a caregiver but had not cared for him in the past few months.

Being under oath, the father stated that he did not mean to cause trouble for Jonathan, but felt he was not treating him like a human being. The man feared he would die if this continued. According to the hospital staff, it was a classic case of neglect.

Woods confirmed that he was his father’s guardian and knew he hadn’t tried hard enough for him. In his defense, he stated that the smell wasn’t that strong and the situation that bad. The police concluded that the boy knew full well that he was doing his father wrong and not taking care of him properly.

The officers said under oath that when they entered the house, they smelled a strong odor of defecation still near the front door. There was food in the refrigerator, however, and the bedroom of Jonathan and his girlfriend was clean and orderly. What could not be said of the victim’s room. The entire floor, the bed, and every surface in sight of the police was covered in feces. There was trash everywhere and cockroaches running around. There were so many that the officers could hardly see the floor.

The disabled man’s bedroom was full of plastic bottles filled with urine, and the door was actually tied up with a rope, just as he complained. Jonathan Woods is currently in jail with an option to be released on $50,000 bail.