FORT WAYNE – In a letter written to the court, Eric Urbano’s son said his life is “100 times better” than it used to be. And why wouldn’t it be? The teen now has a bedroom, a bed and a bathroom – an improvement on the life he had in his father’s home.

Thursday morning, it was that life he had with Urbano on display in Allen Superior Court as Judge Fran Gull weighed the requested plea agreement, which called for a term of probation, and the headline-grabbing case of neglect discovered in March.

In the end, it was the boy’s request for a term of probation that kept Urbano out of jail on charges of neglect of a dependent and possession of a controlled substance. Gull sentenced Urbano to a total of five years on probation for the two charges, also ordering him to attend anger-management and parenting classes.

At the boy’s request, Urbano will be prohibited from having any contact with him until he turns 18.

Urbano kept the boy locked in a basement from October to March – keeping him from running water, forcing him to urinate in a cup and giving him only an inflatable mattress on which to sleep in the basement of their Spy Run Avenue house.

When the boy’s situation was discovered, Urbano was on vacation, in Florida, with his girlfriend.

Police found out about the neglect after a report of a fight. Police followed one of the children to his home and questioned him. He said he had been chased by two other children and had cut his hand after they threw rocks at him.

Five dogs and cats were in the house, which had feces throughout, and the boy said Urbano locked him in the basement anytime he left the house – saying he ate too much food. If he was hungry or needed to use the restroom, the boy would escape out of a basement window and walk to a nearby fast-food restaurant, according to court documents.

The boy’s mother reported that he said he was denied his medications for obsessive-compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder and Tourette’s syndrome, according to court documents.

During Thursday’s hearing, the boy, whose age is not listed in court records, sat in the back row with an adult couple and a victim’s advocate, as far from Urbano as the courtroom allowed. He did not speak during the hearing.

But in his letter, he said he now had a television and was able to go church every Sunday and read the Bible every night.

“It’s a lot better than sleeping in the basement,” he wrote.

Gull held up the letter as she addressed Urbano.

“It’s pretty poignant,” she said, reading from it.

Urbano said he wanted to apologize to his son, knowing he put him in a life-threatening situation. He also apologized to his other children in Florida, saying the situation caused him to break some promises to them. He also thanked his girlfriend for her support.

Allen County Prosecutor Karen Richards handled the case herself, saying she thought she had seen everything in her years handling cases involving children.

“We treat our dogs better than this,” she said. “Children are very precious things. I don’t think he has any concept of what he has done.”

She said she typically would ask for prison time in a case like this but wanted the boy to have a say in what happened to his father.

“He helped me craft this,” she said of the plea deal.

Urbano tested positive for drugs while he was out on bond, resulting in the other charge being filed.

rgreen@jg.net