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.”
Jackson reportedly was not a part of his
daughter’s life until she was seven years old, but
following the incident, he told CBSDFW that he
“can’t ever have a relationship with them again.”
He was offered a plea deal in January 2014 if he
would return the phone. Instead, Jackson hired
an attorney and requested a jury trial.
The case moved to Dallas County and,
unbeknownst to Jackson, a warrant was issued
for his arrest. The police showed up at his door
around 2 a.m. in April 2015, and Jackson was
handcuffed and taken to jail.
“It made no sense to me for them to show
up and make a big deal out of something
that was a small thing,” Jackson said. “I
couldn’t believe they would go to this
extent for a cellphone. It didn’t seem right.”
He posted $1,500 bail and was released
after a night in jail.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” John
Cook, one of Jackson’s defense attorneys,
told KHOU Wednesday. “You would think
we were on the Jerry Springer Show.”
After just a two-day trial in which Jackson’s

daughter, now 15, testified Dallas County Criminal
Court Judge Lisa Green ordered the jury to find
Jackson not guilty, citing insufficient evidence to
prove a theft charge.
Steppe disagrees with the verdict. “Even if you
purchase something with your own money and
have a receipt, it’s not yours,” she said.
“Someone can take it from you.”
He is now filing a Federal complaint of civil
rights violation due to the way he was treated by
police and the city attorney’s office. WFAA
reports that Michelle Steppe’s fiance is an officer
with the Grande Prairie police force.