CLEVELAND (WJW) – A man was indicted for spending six hours at the casino in downtown Cleveland while leaving a child alone in a car, the FOX 8 I-Team learned.
Cuyahoga County prosecutors have indicted Joshua Trundle on a felony charge of child endangering.
Cleveland police video released to the I-Team showed the incident happened in July, but the investigation just now led to the indictment.
Police video showed officers meeting Trundle as he walked out of the casino.
“Where my son at?” he asked.
“Your son? You should know where your son is, right?” an officer responded.
“I (expletive) up,” Trundle said.
“You shouldn’t be asking us about your son,” the officer said.
“I came, I just came to collect my money,” Trundle told a gaming agent for the casino.
But, the agent said, “You were playing roulette.”
A police report shows the child’s mother came and picked him up and left. The report also shows casino security had seen the child getting in and out of the car.
The report indicates, “a 12-year-old juvenile left in a vehicle alone for six hours,” and, “in the vehicle alone since it arrived.”
“The whole time he was nowhere to be found?” an officer said to the casino agent.
“He was nowhere to be found,” the agent answered. “All I saw was video of the kid getting out of the car running around, playing over here.”
Cuyahoga County prosecutors say Trundle has been convicted of child endangering before. In 2016, he’d been stopped for speeding. Police found two kids in the back seat including an infant, but no car seats. Investigators say, at that time, Trundle also had heroin on him.
The child’s mother hung up on us and Trundle didn’t immediately return messages.
Police say he spent a day at the casino leaving a child alone, so now he has to explain it when he gets his day in court.
Prosecutors say he faces a felony charge since he had been convicted of child endangering before.