A 59-year-old father named Darren Looper from California took to Facebook to share a story when his whole life fell apart the night he took his teenage cheerleader daughter’s cell phone away from her.
Within an hour, two police officers were at his door, and he was handcuffed and hauled off to jail.
Three years later, he is still fighting four felony charges and has not been allowed to see or speak to his daughter without permission.
Darren penned a lengthy, heartbroken post explaining everything that led up to that night. He raised his daughter by himself after splitting with his ex-partner.
The two children had been born through a surrogate, one boy biologically his ex’s and one girl biologically his, but Darren says he loved and raised them both the same.
When the relationship ended, he took both kids with him because, in his words, “I signed up for two kids.”
Things started going wrong when his daughter hit high school. She became a cheerleader, joined the student council, and kept good grades at first.
Darren says he trusted her completely and basically did everything in his power to help her.
He drove her to school every day, paid for everything she needed, and let her spend nights with teammates because the coach seemed responsible.
However, what he didn’t know was that behind his back, she was stealing money from him, hiding dirty dishes in her closet, and worst of all, telling wild stories to other parents.
Those parents started buying her clothes and makeup while Darren thought she was just a normal, busy teenager.
One evening, he could not find his own phone, so he asked to borrow hers. She said it was lost, even though he had just seen her using it. When he reached for it, she yanked it away.
Darren took the phone, told her she had lost phone privileges, and left to go grocery shopping.
When he came home, the police were waiting. His daughter had called 911 and said he had hurt her while taking the phone.
Darren spent 5 days in jail and came out to a restraining order that kept him away from his own house and his own child.
Since that night, his daughter has lived with Darren’s niece and has refused to speak to him. She has told family members and friends terrible things about her father, and most of the family believed her.
Darren says:
My daughter is systematically going to everyone that I know and destroyed my relationships with my son, my ex, my mother, my stepfather, my brother, my niece, and her new kids.
Darren Looper
He buried two of her cats that passed away, and she never even asked about them.
The case has dragged on for 3 years. Just when Darren thought it might finally end, two brand-new felony charges were added because he sent his daughter a message saying she could stop everything if she told the truth.
Prosecutors called that “trying to change her mind” and “witness tampering.”
In his post, Darren wrote, “I’ll be damned if I’m gonna go spend seven years in prison for taking my daughter’s cell phone away.”
He also said, “The worst abuse my daughter has ever suffered is the fact that I’m one person and I can’t be all things to all people.”
Darren admits he wasn’t a perfect dad, especially after he had to go on disability and money got tight, but he insists he never hurt her.
He said that he only wrote everything down because keeping it inside was eating him alive. Darren ended his post with, “I’m not a bad guy, but I have been made into a monster and I can’t stop it.”
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