NJ Mom Charged For Leaving Children Alone In Casino Parking Garage – Moms
Aliyah Smith, a New Jersey woman, who was visiting the Wind Creek Bethlehem Casino in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, is facing criminal charges after she left her two children in the parking garage unattended.
Pennsylvania State Police were called at 6 pm on January 10 after a witness saw an eight-year-old boy and a two-year-old girl walking around the fifth floor of the casino parking garage. The boy told officers that they had come to the casino with their mother and grandmother. His mother had reportedly gone into the casino to look for the grandmother after she was “gone too long” and left the children alone.
Although Smith claimed that she had left the children alone for about 10 minutes, video surveillance showed that she was gone for 39 minutes. After the witness found the children, they were handed over to casino security. The 35-year-old mother, of Essex County, was arrested on January 10 and charged with two counts of child endangerment. She was released after posting 10 percent of $8,000 bail on January 14.
In Pennsylvania, child endangerment is when a parent or guardian supervising a child under 18 knowingly endangers the welfare of the child by failing to provide care, protection or support and creating a risk of death or serious bodily injury. A third-degree felony in Pennsylvania, child endangerment is punishable by up to 7 years in jail and a $15,000.00 fine.
Last week, Pennsylvania State Police filed charges against two teenage girls for allowing a two-year-old boy who they were babysitting at a home on Jan-L Street in St. Clair Township, Westmoreland County, to inhale from a vaping device. An 18-year-old girl from Armagh and a 17-year-old girl from Seward, who recorded the incident and posted it to Snapchat, face child endangerment charges.
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The Snapchat video showed the boy coughing, falling down and crying, while those in the background laughed. State police said that the child displayed no serious harm from inhaling from the device, which contained 3% nicotine. Investigators added that the boy’s parents were notified, along with Children and Youth Services.