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Left: Jon Thompson (Washington County Sheriff’s Office). Right: Images of the closet where Thompson kept his daughter (Tontitown Police Department).
An Arkansas father who kept his daughter hidden in a “void” in his home to keep the state from taking custody of her was sentenced to prison.
Jon Thompson, 42, pleaded guilty to false imprisonment, interference with custody, possession of drug paraphernalia, criminal possession of body armor, and failure to appear the day before he was set to go to trial, according to KFSM, a local CBS affiliate. He was also charged with endangering the welfare of a minor, but that charge was dropped as part of the plea deal.
Thompson was arrested in November 2023 after a custody dispute over his then-5-year-old daughter culminated in police officers surrounding his home, accompanied by authorities from the state’s Department of Human Services. Officers found Thompson’s daughter hidden in a small, “triangle-shaped void,” according to court documents.
As previously reported on Law&Crime, Thompson was issued a court order on Nov. 1, 2023, to turn his daughter over to state custody. He did not comply, and authorities showed up at the home of his parents, where he was keeping his daughter hidden. An affidavit obtained by Law&Crime stated that Thompson, who had a history of fleeing from law enforcement, was “unfriendly” to officers when they arrived.
According to the affidavit, Thompson told police that his daughter was not in the home and refused to allow officers inside. He claimed that an earlier court order gave him custody of the girl, but officers presented him with the updated order and he allowed them to come into the home.
When police entered the residence, Thompson led them to a walk-in closet and knelt down in front of what was revealed to be a false wall. In a moment caught on police body camera, he knocked on the wall and called to his daughter, telling her that it was him. He then pulled away the false wall, which had been nailed down, and allowed the frightened girl out.
The affidavit said the girl was in the “confined space,” which was about 8-by-4-feet in size, “for approximately 30 minutes without being able to leave of her own will.” Police said she was safe.
Thompson was sentenced to four years in prison plus a six-year suspended sentence.
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