Our long national nightmare is over. Ronald Jackson, the Texas father who was arrested for theft of his 12 year-old daughter’s phone, is today a free man. Well, he’s been a free man since he posted bail after his booking, but he’s even freer since a jury acquitted him of theft this week.

Apparently, Jackson confiscated the phone as punishment when he found a “rude text” on the iPhone 4, but his daughter’s mother, who is now married to a cop from their hometown of Grand Prairie, Texas, called the cops when she found out the phone was taken:

“I didn’t want the police department telling me how to parent my child. It made no sense to me for them to show up and make a big deal out of something that was a small thing,” said Jackson. “I couldn’t believe they would go to this extent for a cell phone. It didn’t seem right.” Jackson was release from jail after posting $1,500 bail. A year-and-a-half later though, a warrant was issued and Jackson was charged with misdemeanor theft. The North Texas father said he couldn’t believe it. “Why would you need to go arrest somebody for something like that? Don’t you have better things to do as a police officer? Aren’t there bigger crimes in the city to go take care of?”

Jackson still has the phone, making him the only person in the United States who is willing to be caught dead with an iPhone 4, let alone a bedazzled, camouflage iPhone 4.

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