Stepfather found guilty of child abuse after a Florida restaurant employee saved a boy with a note asking if he needed help

(CNN) A stepfather in Florida has been convicted of child abuse after a restaurant employee last year noticed concerning signs and used a surreptitious note to ask a boy if he needed help, the Orange County State Attorney's Office announced Monday.

A jury found 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, a news release from the state attorney's office said.

An investigation revealed the boy was kept away from his family in a hotel room used for storage, was regularly deprived of food and drink, and was subjected to military-style exercises and other abuses, according to the release. Officers recovered multiple items used as weapons against the child, the release added.

The 11-year-old boy and his family were at the Mrs. Potato restaurant in Orlando on January 1, 2021, when employee Flaviane Carvalho noticed he was sitting secluded from his parents and sibling, was being deprived of food and drink, and was bruised and scratched, CNN previously reported.

Carvalho stood behind the boy's parents and held up a note asking the boy if he was OK. When the child nodded no, she wrote a second note that asked, "Do you need help," she explained at a news conference.

After the boy nodded yes, Carvalho called her boss and then called 911.

After police arrived and questioned the child, Wilson was arrested at the restaurant, and the boy's mother, Kristen Swann, was taken into custody days later, Orlando investigators said.

Swann is facing multiple felony abuse charges, including neglect of a child, aggravated abuse and failure to report child abuse, records from the Orange County Clerk's Office show. She has pleaded not guilty. CNN is reaching out to Swann's attorney for comment.

Wilson will be sentenced on August 19, 2022. Leslie Sweet, an attorney for Wilson, said that he "maintains his innocence" in the case.