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The mum and dad of a 20-month-old toddler have been arrested on suspicion of having left the little boy alone in a hotel room while they went out for dinner and drinks.
Natalie Fouche, 30, of Miami, and Albert Thomas Owens, 36, of Miramar, are accused of leaving the little boy asleep on the bed in the Seminole Hard Rock Casino hotel room and unplugging the phone so it would not wake him.
They are then said to have gone out to celebrate the father's birthday.
Seminole Police say the infant was left inside the room for at least 45 minutes.
The child was discovered when a casino security supervisor was alerted at 7:30pm on Tuesday that a telephone had been unplugged from the wall in one of the hotel rooms.
Police Officer Gary Bitner said that called for 'an automatic security check as standard procedure' and that the security supervisor entered the room and found the child sleeping on the bed. There was a wait of 20 minutes before the police were called.
Mr Bitner said that when Natalie Fouche and Albert Owens returned to the room at 8:05 pm, they said that they had gone to the casino to eat and drink and admitted that the child was left alone at least for 45 minutes.
The couple were taken to Broward County Jail and held. Natalie Fouche, a nursing student, said she only had about $500 for bond, while Albert Owens said he was unemployed and had no money.
The little boy was released to the custody of a relative, and a judge ordered that the parents have no contact with him until a hearing (which has not yet been scheduled) has decided the custody issues.