Florida Stepfather Found Guilty After Waitress Saved Abuse Victim

ORLANDO, FL — The stepfather of a boy who was helped by a waitress last year was found guilty on 10 charges, Monique Worrell, state attorney for the Ninth District, announced in a news release Monday.

A six-person jury in Orange County returned a guilty verdict for Timothy Lee Wilson, 36, on two counts of false imprisonment of a child under 13, three counts of aggravated child abuse with a weapon, four counts of aggravated child abuse and one count of child neglect, according to the release.

The charges stem from an incident on New Year's Day 2021 at an Orlando restaurant in which a waitress provided crucial help to a boy who showed signs of abuse.

Flaviane Carvalho, a manager at Mrs. Potato Restaurant, noticed an 11-year-old boy being secluded from the rest of a family of four, including Wilson, who had come into the restaurant. She saw that he was being deprived of food and beverages, and she noticed bruises on the victim, officials said.

Out of sight of Wilson, Carvalho signaled with a handwritten note, asking the boy if needed help. After the boy nodded, Carvalho called 911, according to authorities.

Investigators discovered Wilson was the boy's stepfather and that the boy had been tortured, punished and deprived of food and water for days at a time. Authorities found the boy had been kept in a separate hotel room used for storage, isolated from the rest of the family.

Duct tape covered the peep hole to the victim's room, and the boy was made to do military-style exercises, hung upside down by his neck and feet from a door and was handcuffed to a dolly cart on Christmas Day, according to authorities.

Officers recovered a bent metal pole, wooden broom, handcuffs, ratchet straps and the dolly cart, which were used as weapons and restraints on the boy, police said.

Wilson's sentencing is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Aug. 19, according to the release.

Carvalho was a witness at the trial and told WESH she stays in close contact with the boy.

"Now he's healthy. He's being loved. It's clear on his face and the way he's acting that he's much better now," Carvalho told the TV station. "Justice was served."