Babysitter left kids in car, 6-year-old found wandering casino garage

ATLANTIC CITY — A babysitter is in big trouble for allegedly leaving two young children, including a infant, inside a casino parking garage while she was inside applying for a job on Monday afternoon.

Another customer reported to security at the Ocean Resort Casino finding a 6-year-old child wandering around the self-parking garage around 3 p.m, according to Atlantic City police. Security located the child's car and found a 1-year-old sibling inside the vehicle.

Meteorologist Dan Zarrow said the temperature was in the lower 70s on Monday afternoon.

A child’s body heats up three to five times faster than an adult’s body, meaning that a child can die of heat stroke on a 72-degree day, according to Tracy Noble, spokeswoman for AAA Mid-Atlantic.  Even on days that don’t feel dangerously hot, car surfaces can reach temperatures upward of 160 degrees, according to AAA.

Police arrested the children's babysitter, 23-year-old Shaun Saunders, of Pleasantville, an hour later when she came back to the car and explained she had been inside filling out paperwork, police said. She was charged with endangering the welfare of a child.

The Ocean Resort reopened officially in May in the former Revel casino.

The children's mother was located by police and the Division of Child Protection and Permanency and the children were released to her custody, police said.

Saunders was also found to be in possession of marijuana and charged with possession of a controlled dangerous substance. She was released on a summons and has a future court date.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ