Local man allegedly left 4-year-old in car at casino
LINCOLN – A Cumberland man was charged with child neglect after he allegedly left his four-year-old daughter alone in the Twin River Casino parking lot last Saturday night while he went inside the casino to drink, Lincoln Police said.
Around 10:41 last Saturday night, Twin River Security alerted a Lincoln Police detail officer of a child who’d been left alone in a parked vehicle, police said. The fouryear-old girl was crying and appeared to be frightened, according to police. The girl was left alone in the locked vehicle with the engine shut off, and Lincoln Police noted that the temperature was reportedly 36 degrees at the time the girl was found.
Twin River security per- sonnel were able to open the vehicle and allow Lincoln Rescue personnel to check on the girl. As the girl was being tended to by rescue personnel, Twin River Casino surveillance was able to locate the man who had allegedly left the vehicle parked in the lot, police said.
The man, identified by police as 27-year-old Jose Funes of Cumberland, was found inside the casino and escorted to the security office, police said, noting that Funes appeared to be intoxicated and he allegedly acknowledged that he left the girl alone in the car.
Funes was taken into custody and transported to the Lincoln Police Department, where he was arraigned on a count of child neglect, according to police. The girl’s mother was contacted and she
took custody of the girl, police said.
The Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth, and Families was contacted and made aware of the situation.
Funes posted $200 cash bail Saturday. He’s due in Third District Court on Jan. 18 for a pre-arraignment conference, according to the judiciary website.