A Baltimore woman is accused of leaving her 4-year-old child in a car outside the Maryland Live! Casino for more than eight hours on New Year’s Eve.
Security workers were patrolling the parking garage at the casino in Hanover when they saw the unattended child crying in a parked vehicle, Anne Arundel County police Lt. T.J. Smith said. Officers called to the scene found that the vehicle had entered the parking garage at about 10 a.m., Smith said. A woman left the vehicle and entered the casino, he said.
Temperatures were near freezing. Medical workers were called, and the child was taken to the Baltimore Washington Medical Center in Glen Burnie, Smith said. Doctors found the child cold and hungry, but otherwise in good health, Smith said. There were no signs of physical abuse.
As workers were preparing to take the child to the hospital, Smith said, the mother returned to the car. Alicia Denice Brown, 24, was arrested at the scene and charged with second-degree child abuse, confined unattended child under 8 years old and neglect of a minor, Smith said.
Smith said it appears that the child was left in the car throughout the day. It was not clear whether Brown returned to the car at any point to check on the child. Brown was not working at the casino, Smith said. Maryland Child Protective Services was called and the child was released to a relative, Smith said.
