Phillip A. Tanner in mug shot, pictured above. He was charged after traveling toward a Connecticut casino with runaway girls, police said. (Image: Ledyard Police)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nPhillip A. Tanner, 27, of Torrington, Conn., was charged with three counts of risk of injury to a minor, The Day<\/em>, a Connecticut newspaper, reported.<\/p>\nHe allegedly picked up the girls and another young female in Ledyard, Conn. They were heading to the nearby Foxwoods Casino to meet up with other people, police said. Authorities did not specify what activities the girls would participate in once at the casino.<\/p>\n
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Police stopped a car in the middle of the night on Route 2 in Preston, Conn. and saw the girls in the car, according to The Day<\/em>. The girls were 13, 14, and 15 years old, based on court information. They were under the care of Connecticut\u2019s Department of Children and Families.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nOne of the teens was described in court documents as \u201cA chronic runaway with an extensive history of being possibly human trafficked,\u201d WFSB<\/em>, a local TV station, reported.<\/p>\nIt is unclear how old the fourth female was, though one news report identified her as a teenager.<\/p>\n
Suspect Remains in Jail<\/h2>\n
On Saturday, Tanner was being held on $100,000 bail in Connecticut\u2019s Corrigan-Radgowski Correctional Center. He was arraigned on Wednesday in New London, Conn. Superior Court.<\/p>\n
During a court appearance, Judge Kevin Shay said he was \u201cvery troubled\u201d by the case, WFSB<\/em> said.<\/p>\nThe report said the judge ordered Tanner to avoid visits to Connecticut casinos, avoid a youth home in Ledyard where one or more of the girls were living, and ruled Tanner cannot have any contact with the girls.<\/p>\n
Tanner is scheduled to return to court on Aug. 31.<\/p>\n
Story Not Credible<\/h2>\n
Tanner claimed to police he was driving to Foxwoods to meet one of the girl\u2019s boyfriends, the report said. He also claimed he did not know they were minors. Tanner picked up one of the girls previously before this week\u2019s incident, authorities said.<\/p>\n
This story doesn\u2019t seem credible. It seems concerning in the day and age of so much sex trafficking and human trafficking,<\/a>\u201d Shay added, according to WFSB<\/em>. \u201cEven if that\u2019s not what\u2019s going on, picking up four wards of the state at this hour and driving them to a casino seems to be a risk of injury in itself, even if there\u2019s not other things going on.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\nBefore his recent appointment as a state judge, Shay was a Connecticut senior assistant state’s attorney and Special Assistant US Attorney in Connecticut. He also formerly worked as a lawyer for Connecticut Legal Services.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Girls in their early teens were headed to Foxwoods Resort Casino with a 27-year-old man earlier this week before cops stopped them. Police identified the girls as runaways. The man later was arrested in Connecticut. Phillip A. Tanner, 27, of Torrington, Conn., was charged with three counts of risk of injury to a minor, The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":223941,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[22,13766,81928],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Foxwoods Casino Destination of Connecticut Man, Runaway Girls<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n