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Over the past few weeks the state of Pennsylvania has seen a large amount of parents leaving their children in their vehicles to go inside the casinos to gamble. These parents were inside the casinos for several hours before their kids were discovered in their vehicles. The first case of child endangerment that involves Paul Vargas has now gone to court.Paul Vargas left his two kids in his vehicle while he went inside a Pennsylvania casino to play blackjack. Vargas went before a state judge last week and his public defender decided to waive Vargas’ right to a hearing.
Vargas has a long list of crimes he has committed from resisting arrest, heroin possession, DWI and driving with a suspended license. Vargas is charged with leaving his two children ages seven and twelve in the car while he went inside for an extended period of time to play blackjack.
The two children are currently staying with their grandparents as they are not allowed to stay with their father. The children’s mother is currently in jail on a probation violation. Vargas is set to be arraigned on October 15th.
The DA as well as the attorney for the prosecution stated that Vargas will undergo drug and alcohol evaluations to determine if he has a substance addiction. They also stated that: “Driving around with a suspended license, alcohol in his system and going to the casino is not good parenting, at minimum.”
The casino in which Vargas visited was the Parx Casino which just added the blackjack and other table games a few months ago. The casino has been in the press a lot lately since they added the games as several instances of children being left in vehicles by their parents have taken place.
2010-09-30
