Two babies by themselves
Deputies from Clallam County Sheriff’s Office are actively searching for the father who allegedly abandoned his two young children outside 7 Cedars Hotel and Casino in Sequim, Washington.
On June 12, Travis Michael Parker, 38, allegedly left the five-month-old and the 1.5-year-old in the parking lot of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe-owned and operated casino.
Clallam County Sheriff’s Office took to Facebook on June 15 to ask for the public’s help in finding Sequim resident Parker:
According to the sheriff’s office, its deputies appeared at the 7 Cedars scene on June 12 after casino surveillance employees spotted the two kids unattended in the parking lot.
The sheriff’s office Facebook post lists “Family Abandonment (Class C Felony) and Leaving Children Unattended in a Motor Vehicle” as probable cause for Parker’s arrest.
Left in car, then on ground
The Clallam County Sheriff’s Office investigation reported that Parker arrived at the casino at around 5am on July 12. He parked his vehicle in the casino parking lot and left the two kids alone in the car while he went into the building.
While inside, deputies later discovered, Parker contacted the children’s mom, telling her he had to go to work and she should take the kids. The mother said she asked Parker to take them to her place, where she would meet them.
removed the two kids and left them, in their car seats, behind their mother’s vehicle
The Facebook post then states Parker returned to his car, removed the two kids and left them, in their car seats, behind their mother’s vehicle, which was also in the parking lot. Parker then departed the scene in his car.
A casino patron noticed the abandoned children and notified casino security. The mother was subsequently located and the two kids were returned to her.
Search for Parker is ongoing
Clallam County Sheriff’s Office deputies listed Parker’s physical appearance and asked the public to contact their department’s dispatch or leave an anonymous tip on their website in the hope of finding Parker.
Adults leaving kids inside cars while gambling at casinos is not a rare occurrence, and often leads to tragedy. In June 2020, an Oklahoma woman got a 210 month prison term for leaving her five-year-old grandson to die in a hot car in a car park at Kickapoo Casino in Harrah, Oklahoma in 2018.