Who paid for the phone?
Who pays the cell phone bill?
If it is not the dad, then he did not have a right to confiscate the phone on his own.
Just substitute the word "cocaine" for 'cell phone' there and see if that makes you think...
And then there are all the subtleties in-between.
No. Just No.
If the dad is raising the daughter, he has a right to take everything he considers frivolous or detrimental away from her, regardless of who bought it or who paid for it.
The Mother did not have custody, so apparently the courts regarded the Father as the more appropriate person to raise the child. The father exercised his judgement in the matter, and the non custodial parent sicced her cop boyfriend/husband on him.
This story is about abuse of power and connections. The father was perfectly within his legal rights to do what he did, and I would have done the same thing had I been in his position.
The Court found in his favor.