Afraid that his son would become “soft,” a Florida father took his son on a major crime spree because he wanted to toughen him up.
Ernest McKnight III, 36, from Lake Wales, was arrested on Thursday and charged with burglary of an unoccupied conveyance, burglary of an occupied dwelling, tampering with evidence, burglary of an unoccupied dwelling, grand theft motor vehicle, petit theft and three counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
He took an 8-year old with him for the majority of the crimes.
When deputies asked McKnight about the child, he responded,
“I was trying to toughen him up … I don’t want him to be soft.”
“Taking a child out with you while you’re committing felonies is not the proper way to create a positive influence. I’m quite confident that there is not a child psychologist out there who would agree with this guy’s idea of proper activity for a child,” Polk Sheriff Grady Judd said in a press release.
