Dad charged with leaving 7-month-old son in pick up truck while gambling at the racetrack (Rochester, New York)

Once again, we have a story where some obvious back story has been omitted. If dad CLINT VANEPPS was married or in a committed relationship, then why not just leave the baby at home with Mom if you're going to the race track? Or was Daddy "caretaking" because Mom had to work? (And don't get me started on the mothers of young infants who are forced to work while daddies play.) Or was this a custody/visitation issue? Did Daddy's visitation time just HAPPEN to coincide with a time when he got that gamblin' itch? Or --god forbid--did he actually have custody of this baby? Questions, questions...and no answers.

http://www.whec.com/news/stories/S1952023.shtml?cat=566

Rochester father charged with endangering the welfare of seven-month-old baby

Posted at: 02/01/2011 9:02 AM Updated at: 02/01/2011 5:13 PM
By: Lynette Adams WHEC.com

A father is accused of leaving his infant son outside in a cold pick up truck while he gambled inside at Finger Lakes Gaming and Racetrack Monday.

Police have charged 25-year-old Clint Vanepps of Greece with endangering the welfare of a child. According to Ontario County Sheriff Phil Povero, Vanepps claims he was only going to be gambling for a short time and didn’t think any harm would come to his son.

It was around 2:45 Monday afternoon when a woman walking through the parking lot of the Finger Lakes Gaming and Racetrack heard a noise coming from a pick up truck.

Sheriff Povero, said, “We're very grateful that she took the time to check out this noise. Because she sees in the truck what appears to be an infant covered in a very thin blanket and the vehicle was locked up with nobody around.”

Ten minutes later the baby was rescued by security guards. They used a jimmy to unlock the truck and then took the baby inside where an EMT warmed him up and changed his diaper. All this while, they paged and tried to find the dad inside.

Sheriff's Deputies estimate the infant had been in the truck for 47 minutes in 15 degree temperatures. The good news is that he is okay.

Sheriff Povero says he wishes this was an isolated incident. “Unfortunately we do see different type of child abuse cases in different forms. If you think back it was just a few months ago that we were talking to the news media about people who left young children in cars that were overheated.”