Milwaukee woman charged, accused of leaving five children in casino garage while she gambles

Rick Barrett | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A Milwaukee woman accused of leaving five children including a newborn in a casino garage while she gambled has been charged with child neglect.

Takeshia D. Stanton, 27, faces five counts of criminal child neglect in connection with the July 2 incident in which police say she left the children for up to four hours in her parked car at Potawatomi Hotel & Casino, according to a criminal complaint filed Friday in Milwaukee County Circuit Court.

Police said the children, ages 3 months to 13 years old, were left in the 2009 Dodge Charger parked on the second floor of the casino garage while Stanton played Spanish 21, a type of blackjack.

According to the complaint:

When they arrived around 6:30 p.m., officers said, they found the 13-year-old in the front passenger seat with the 3-month-old infant in her arms.

Officers said the keys were in the ignition, it was 80 degrees outside, the air conditioner was off and an envelope was wedged into the window so the windows could not be rolled down.

Police said the car smelled of dirty diapers and there was trash throughout the vehicle, including bottles of engine oil and antifreeze. There was a bottle of Hennessy cognac in the center console between the driver and passenger seats, they said.

Police were called by casino security after a customer reported seeing the children unattended in the car.

Stanton initially told police she had been at the casino for two hours, then three-and-a-half hours. She said her mother was supposed to have picked up the children and taken them to a hotel room so that she could gamble. Stanton told police she gambles four to five times a week.

After her arrest, the three male children were placed in the custody of their father, who is identified only by initials in the complaint.

The two female children were placed in the custody of their mother, also identified by initials, who told police that she and Stanton regularly care for each other’s children on a rotating schedule.

Police said the boys' father told them that Stanton left his home around 2 p.m. and was supposed to take the children to the beach. When police found the children at the casino, they were wearing bathing suits.

Stanton has a prior conviction, for prostitution, from 2009.