Racine, WI – Autism therapist Stephen Jacobs who was charged with physically abusing Stephanie Lowe’s son Caeden, pleaded guilty on Tuesday Feb 3. The 28-year-old Wauwatosa native was caught on tape hurting the 3-year-old with severe autism on December 14, 2013. We last reported on the story on Jan 30, Therapist caught abusing young boy with autism on video.
Lowe told WISN 12 News.
“If I hadn’t put a video camera downstairs, we would’ve never known,” .
She had suspected something was amiss when her son failed to improve from his in-home ongoing sessions with Jacobs and put security a camera in the basement where the session took place.
Jacobs was one of many therapists from the service, Autism Intervention of Milwaukee, who provided treatment to Caedan. The three-year-old has severe autism and is unable to communicate with his parents.
“It’s about my son. He deserves the therapy he was promised. And he deserves more than they gave him. And this could be happening anywhere. Nobody knows your child better than you. Period. If something seems wrong, it’s wrong. Now we found something quite unfortunate we didn’t expect to find. But, God I’m glad we did it.”
Thankfully Jacobs has since been fired from the autism organization. It has been reported that prosecutors will recommend a two year prison sentence alongside a further two years of extended supervision. The judge can sentence Jacobs up to a total of three years in prison.
According to the Lowe’s their son is now doing much better. He’s attending some classes and a different kind of therapy.
Contributed by Audrey L. Hollingshead
Source: WISN 12 News: Therapist pleads guilty to abusing autistic Wisconsin boy