Mother leaves bawling toddler locked in car while she gambles
MILWAUKEE — A Wisconsin mother was arrested after leaving her bawling toddler locked in her vehicle while she went into a casino to gamble, police said on Tuesday.
Jessica Pedretti, 26, was arrested on Saturday evening at the Ho-Chunk Gaming Madison casino, accused of leaving her 3-year-old girl in her SUV for an hour while she went inside to gamble, said Joel Despain, a Madison Police Department spokesman.
A casino patron contacted authorities after noticing the child "bawling her eyes out" in the parking lot, a police report said. Firefighters got the child out of the locked SUV and placed her in a squad car as police paged Pedretti in the casino, it said.
When Pedretti arrived in the parking lot, she told police she left the child for 15 minutes to pick up a friend. Police said they arrested Pedretti after learning she was gambling in the casino for about an hour, according to the report.
Despain said a child neglect charge is expected to be filed against Pedretti, who is from Jefferson, Wisconsin, about 25 miles east of the casino in Madison, the state's capital.
