Plauché was given a seven-year suspended sentence with five years' probation and 300 hours of community service, receiving no prison time.

Jody, the focus of a nationwide search, was eventually found after Doucet allowed the boy to place a collect call to his mother from the motel.

In an interview with a news television crew, Plauché stated that after he heard reports that Doucet had sexually assaulted his son, he felt a sense of helplessness and did not know how to deal with the situation.

Plauché placed the telephone receiver down before a police officer restrained him and removed the gun from his hand as the other attended to Doucet.

[11] Psychological reports helped Plauché's case after it was learned that Doucet had abused Jody months prior to the kidnapping.

Plauché's defense team argued that he was driven to a temporarily psychotic state after learning of the abuse of his son.

Judge Frank Saia ruled that sending Plauché to prison would not help anyone, and that there was virtually no risk of him committing another crime.

[6] One video featured on YouTube was taken from the television series Anatomy of Crime, which aired in 2000 on Court TV and was produced by John Langley, the creator of Cops.

He attended Louisiana State University where he served on the executive board of Men Against Violence; upon graduation, he worked at the Victim Services Center of Montgomery County as a sexual assault counselor.

[7] In 2024, Jody appeared in an interview for the Mirror in which he stated that he was happy with his life and regarded his father as "the greatest dad of all time".