Florida waitress saves a boy with hidden note, stepfather found guilty of child abuse

A Florida man was found guilty of child abuse after a waitress noticed concerning signs and used a note to ask the boy if he needed help, the Orange County State Attorney’s Office said on Monday.

Flaviane Carvalho, a waitress at the Mrs. Potato restaurant in Orlando, notices a family of four entering the restaurant at around 11:00 p.m. on New Year’s Day 2021. She noticed that the 11-year-old boy was secluded from the rest of his family and was not given any food or beverages.

After observing the situation, Carvalho noticed that the boy had several injuries and decided to take action.

On a piece of paper, she wrote “Do you need help?” and held it up for the boy to see.

The boy nodded, acknowledging that he did. Carvalho called her boss and 911.

When police arrived at the restaurant, they questioned the child. His stepfather was arrested at the restaurants, and his mother was arrested a few days later.

"I just thought I need to do something," Carvalho explained. "I could not see him go away without any help."

“Subsequent investigations revealed the victim was the stepson of Mr. Wilson. He had been tortured, maliciously punished, and deprived of food and water for days at a time. A search warrant revealed that the victim was kept in a separate hotel room used for storage, away from Mr. Wilson, the victim’s mother, and the younger sibling,” said a statement from the state attorney’s office.

“Duct tape covered the peephole to the victim’s room. He routinely was deprived of food and beverages, was made to do military-style exercises, hung upside down from a door by his neck and feet, and at one point, handcuffed to a dolly cart on Christmas Day.”

Police also found multiple items that were used as weapons against the boy, including a metal pole, a wooden broom, handcuffs, and ratchet straps used to tie him up.

A six-person jury found the stepfather, Timothy Lee Wilson, 36, guilty of two counts of false imprisonment of a child under the age of 13, three counts of aggravated child abuse with a weapon, four counts of aggravated child abuse, and one count of child neglect, continued the statement.

His mother, Kristen Swann also faces multiple charges, including child neglect, aggravated abuse, and failure to report child abuse.

"What this child had gone through it was torture," Detective Erin Lawler Lawler said with tears in her eyes. "I'm a mother and seeing what that 11-year-old had to go through... It shocks your soul."

"If Ms. Carvalho would not have said something when she saw it that little boy would probably not be with us much longer," she added.