Man Who Found Baby In Casino Garage Says There Is 'No Excuse'
CENTRAL CITY, Colo. (CBS4) - A couple is facing child abuse charges after police found their baby girl locked in a car at a casino parking garage in Central City.
The little girl was found in the Century Casino garage just before 7 p.m. on Friday.
Police arrested Louiesa West and Phillip Perri. Perri has bonded out, but West remains in jail.
When Sammy Kent returned to his car in the parking garage at the Century Casino something caught his eye in the car right next to him.
"I started to leave and I looked again and I saw something really move and so I got out and looked in and there was a baby carrier," Kent said.
The baby was still strapped in the car seat and the parents were nowhere in sight.
"Sure enough there was a baby in there. I ran in and I called security," Kent said.
Kent told casino managers who called police and then paged the license plate over the intercom system, asking the owner of the car to come forward. West and Perri eventually did.
"The mother, I guess, came out. She walked up, looked at the police car and then looked at us and asked us if there was a problem. The police officer answered, 'Yes. Is that your baby in the car?' She said, 'Yeah,' and he handcuffed her right away."
Kent says that the mother told police she had just gone to use the restroom and had only been gone a few minutes. Police checked surveillance cameras and found that it wasn't true and the baby had been in the car for an hour.
Security watched over the baby until someone from Social Services arrived. Perri and West were arrested by Central City police and put in the county jail.
"I was angry with the parents. I mean, I don't understand. There's no excuse for it at all to leave your child like that. I don't care what anybody says. You have two people there and someone can watch the child while the other person goes to the restroom -- that was her excuse -- 'I just went to the restroom.' There's no excuse," Kent said.
The baby is currently with a grandparent.
