FIFE, Washington — A Fife woman is behind bars after police said she left her 3-year-old son in a motel room for two hours while she gambled at a casino miles away.
Officials from Child Protective Services said a case worker from the agency’s Tacoma office took custody of the boy. Police said he was in potential danger while the mother gambled.
Richard Snyder said he and his wife have helped take care of the woman’s children for some time now, and said he’s not surprised she’s in jail.
“You said that’s where she belongs?” KIRO 7’s Kevin McCarty asked, to clarify a statement by Snyder.
“Yeah, a long time ago,” Snyder replied.
Fife police found out about the boy when the woman’s boyfriend showed up at the motel around 5:30 a.m. Monday and asked management to let him into the room. He wasn’t registered at the front desk so they said no, police said. When he told them there was a 3-year-old in the room by himself, the motel clerk called police, who found the boy safe.
“He was sound asleep when we were there, and so that was good,” Fife police spokesman Lt. Tom Thompson said. “He was placed with Child Protective Services.”
Police and casino security then tracked down the mother, who was still playing at a slot machine. Investigators said she told a confusing and unconvincing story, then finally confessed that she left the child so she could gamble.
“She said that they had actually been gone for several hours, and she admitted she made a mistake,” Thompson said.
Snyder said he can’t explain why the mother would leave a young boy alone in a motel room for hours.
“I don’t know what druggies do, man. I don’t have a clue. I drink; I don’t do drugs,” he said.
The woman and her boyfriend are expected in Fife Municipal Court on Tuesday morning to face charges of abandoning the boy.
KIRO
