{"id":111367,"date":"2019-08-06T19:23:03","date_gmt":"2019-08-07T02:23:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=111367"},"modified":"2019-08-07T11:05:27","modified_gmt":"2019-08-07T18:05:27","slug":"three-charged-after-toddler-left-in-car-at-louisiana-truck-stop-casino","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/three-charged-after-toddler-left-in-car-at-louisiana-truck-stop-casino\/","title":{"rendered":"Louisiana Mother, Two Others Charged with Leaving Toddler in Car While Hitting Truck Stop Casino"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three people were arrested in Louisiana on Friday evening on charges they left a toddler alone in a car at a truck stop casino. Those arrested include the child\u2019s mother and her apparent boyfriend.<\/p>\n

\"\"
From left to right, Pashuia Thomas, Christine Johnson, and Leonard Ray Boagni were charged with child desertion after they left Thomas’ 2-year-old son in a car while they played at a Louisiana truck stop casino. (Image: WAFB-TV\/St. Landry Parish Sheriff’s Office)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

According to the St. Landry Parish Sheriff\u2019s Office, law enforcement officers were notified around 7:30 pm CT by a security guard and an employee of the Kings Truck Stop and Casino in Port Barre that they saw a 2-year-old boy alone in a vehicle, with its windows only slightly rolled down. Port Barre is about an hour west of Baton Rouge.<\/p>\n

In reviewing security camera footage, detectives saw that Pashuia Thomas, the child\u2019s mother, and Christine Johnson initially rotated in staying in the car with the child, as each woman would play for about five minutes in the casino.<\/p>\n

The last time that Thomas entered the casino, she stayed for about 45 minutes. During that time, the child was observed leaving the vehicle and walking toward the truck stop. An employee located the child and tried to find his parents. Moments later Leonard Ray Boagni approached the employee and allegedly said the boy belonged to his girlfriend.<\/p>\n

At that time, officers allege Boagni returned him to the car, and both he and Johnson then went into the casino, leaving the child by himself.<\/p>\n

Johnson was seen several times entering and exiting the casino while the child remained in the car alone,\u201d the sheriff\u2019s report stated. \u201cSeeing this, the security officer notified the management and notified the sheriff\u2019s office.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Thomas, 32, Johnson, 34, and Boagni, 40, were all charged with a count of child desertion. They were taken to the parish jail for booking and all three posted $1,500 bonds. The sheriff\u2019s release did not indicate when the next court appearance would take place.<\/p>\n

The child, the sheriff\u2019s office said, was released to his grandfather.<\/p>\n

Heat Can Kill Kids<\/h2>\n

According to Weather.com, the temperature at nearby Opelousas was 88 degrees on Friday.<\/p>\n

The Web site KidsAndCars.org<\/a> tracks the number of children who die in hot cars annually. Through last Thursday, there have been 26 such deaths in 2019. Five of those deaths took place in a six-day span up through last Thursday.<\/p>\n

\n

On average, 38 kids die annually from being left in hot cars. Last year was the record, with 53 deaths. That included at least one fatality at a casino, where an Oklahoma woman faces federal murder charges for leaving her 5-year-old grandson in a car<\/a> while she spent six afternoon hours at a tribal casino.<\/p>\n

The organization said a young child\u2019s body temperature can rise up to five times faster than an adult, meaning as the temperature in a car increases, so, too, does the child\u2019s chance for a fatal heatstroke.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cCracking the windows does NOT drastically reduce the temperature inside a vehicle,\u201d the organization posted in a document on the dangers of leaving children unattended in vehicles.<\/p>\n

Other Dangers Exist<\/h2>\n

Beyond heatstroke, young children face strangulation dangers from seat belts. Kids also have been seriously injured from falling out of vehicles, and by being run over by a vehicle whose driver could not see the young child behind or in front of them.<\/p>\n

In addition, children left unattended may find a choking hazard within their reach.<\/p>\n

KidsAndCards.org recommends that anyone who sees a young child left unattended in a vehicle should call 9-1-1 immediately. They should work to remove the child immediately if they observe any signs of distress.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Three people were arrested in Louisiana on Friday evening on charges they left a toddler alone in a car at a truck stop casino. Those arrested include the child\u2019s mother and her apparent boyfriend. According to the St. Landry Parish Sheriff\u2019s Office, law enforcement officers were notified around 7:30 pm CT by a security guard […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":111368,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThree Charged After Toddler Left in Car at Louisiana Truck Stop Casino<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A mother and two others were charged with desertion last Friday after leaving a 2-year-old in a car with cracked-open windows while they played at a casino.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Three Charged After Toddler Left in Car at Louisiana Truck Stop Casino\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A mother and two others were charged with desertion last Friday after leaving a 2-year-old in a car with cracked-open windows while they played at a casino.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/three-charged-after-toddler-left-in-car-at-louisiana-truck-stop-casino\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-08-07T02:23:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-08-07T18:05:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/charged.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Steve Bittenbender\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Steve Bittenbender\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/three-charged-after-toddler-left-in-car-at-louisiana-truck-stop-casino\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/three-charged-after-toddler-left-in-car-at-louisiana-truck-stop-casino\/\",\"name\":\"Three Charged After Toddler Left in Car at Louisiana Truck Stop Casino\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/three-charged-after-toddler-left-in-car-at-louisiana-truck-stop-casino\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/three-charged-after-toddler-left-in-car-at-louisiana-truck-stop-casino\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/charged.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-08-07T02:23:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-08-07T18:05:27+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2\"},\"description\":\"A mother and two others were charged with desertion last Friday after leaving a 2-year-old in a car with cracked-open windows while they played at a casino.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/three-charged-after-toddler-left-in-car-at-louisiana-truck-stop-casino\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/three-charged-after-toddler-left-in-car-at-louisiana-truck-stop-casino\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/three-charged-after-toddler-left-in-car-at-louisiana-truck-stop-casino\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/charged.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/charged.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":600,\"caption\":\"(Image: WAFB-TV\/St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/three-charged-after-toddler-left-in-car-at-louisiana-truck-stop-casino\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Louisiana Mother, Two Others Charged with Leaving Toddler in Car While Hitting Truck Stop Casino\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2\",\"name\":\"Steve Bittenbender\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-7-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-7-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Steve Bittenbender\"},\"description\":\"Steve Bittenbender covers Midwest and Gulport news for Casino.org. He also specializes in sports betting and horse racing. Steve is a veteran reporter and brings more than two decades of experience covering sports, business and politics. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Steve has also covered major collegiate and professional sports for the Associated Press and the Louisville Courier-Journal and is frequently featured on local network TV newscasts and podcasts for his horse racing business and legislative expertise. A Reuters contributor, he has also previously served as editor for Government Security News. Steve lives in Louisville, Kentucky -- the epicenter of the US horse racing industry -- with his wife and son. He is also an avid poker player, having learned from his uncle as a wholesome after-school pastime with cookies and milk. Contact Steve at stevebittenbender@casino.org.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/steve-bittenbender\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Three Charged After Toddler Left in Car at Louisiana Truck Stop Casino","description":"A mother and two others were charged with desertion last Friday after leaving a 2-year-old in a car with cracked-open windows while they played at a casino.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Three Charged After Toddler Left in Car at Louisiana Truck Stop Casino","og_description":"A mother and two others were charged with desertion last Friday after leaving a 2-year-old in a car with cracked-open windows while they played at a casino.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/three-charged-after-toddler-left-in-car-at-louisiana-truck-stop-casino\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2019-08-07T02:23:03+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-08-07T18:05:27+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/charged.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Steve Bittenbender","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Casino_Org","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Steve Bittenbender","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/three-charged-after-toddler-left-in-car-at-louisiana-truck-stop-casino\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/three-charged-after-toddler-left-in-car-at-louisiana-truck-stop-casino\/","name":"Three Charged After Toddler Left in Car at Louisiana Truck Stop Casino","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/three-charged-after-toddler-left-in-car-at-louisiana-truck-stop-casino\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/three-charged-after-toddler-left-in-car-at-louisiana-truck-stop-casino\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/charged.jpg","datePublished":"2019-08-07T02:23:03+00:00","dateModified":"2019-08-07T18:05:27+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2"},"description":"A mother and two others were charged with desertion last Friday after leaving a 2-year-old in a car with cracked-open windows while they played at a casino.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/three-charged-after-toddler-left-in-car-at-louisiana-truck-stop-casino\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/three-charged-after-toddler-left-in-car-at-louisiana-truck-stop-casino\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/three-charged-after-toddler-left-in-car-at-louisiana-truck-stop-casino\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/charged.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/charged.jpg","width":1200,"height":600,"caption":"(Image: WAFB-TV\/St. Landry Parish Sheriff's Office)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/three-charged-after-toddler-left-in-car-at-louisiana-truck-stop-casino\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Louisiana Mother, Two Others Charged with Leaving Toddler in Car While Hitting Truck Stop Casino"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/eb30e765d812fc9b38b333f8d13068b2","name":"Steve Bittenbender","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-7-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-7-1-96x96.png","caption":"Steve Bittenbender"},"description":"Steve Bittenbender covers Midwest and Gulport news for Casino.org. He also specializes in sports betting and horse racing. Steve is a veteran reporter and brings more than two decades of experience covering sports, business and politics. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Steve has also covered major collegiate and professional sports for the Associated Press and the Louisville Courier-Journal and is frequently featured on local network TV newscasts and podcasts for his horse racing business and legislative expertise. A Reuters contributor, he has also previously served as editor for Government Security News. Steve lives in Louisville, Kentucky -- the epicenter of the US horse racing industry -- with his wife and son. He is also an avid poker player, having learned from his uncle as a wholesome after-school pastime with cookies and milk. Contact Steve at stevebittenbender@casino.org.","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/steve-bittenbender\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111367"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111367\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}