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Attention Valley residents: When you go to a bar, don’t leave your kids sitting alone in your car in the bar’s parking lot.
For the second time in less than a month, somone was arrested for doing exactly that.
Tempe police arrested a man on Sunday who they say left his three children alone in his car as it sat parked in a bar parking lot for up to an hour.
As the kids sat unattended in the car, the suspect, police say, was inside hammin’ it up with his buddies.
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According to police, 28-year-old Maurice Morgan went to the bar Graham Central Station in Tempe on Sunday afternoon and left the children, ages 6-months, 4, and 3, unattended in his unlocked, running car, parked in the bar’s parking lot.
Multiple witnesses noticed the kids sitting in the running car and waited near the vehicle for 30 minutes before calling police.
When police arrived, they had the manager of the bar page the owner of the car.
When Morgan met with the cops, he told them that his wife was coming to pick up the children, and he had been inside with friends.
The arresting officer says the children were alone in the car for nearly an hour and that Morgan admits he never checked on them the entire time.
Tempe Police Sergeant Steve Carbajal tells New Times he isn’t sure whether the suspect was drinking while inside the bar, but court documents say he was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of his arrest.
Morgan was arrested and booked on three counts of child abuse and taken to the Tempe City Jail.
After his arrest, he admitted that he knew it was wrong to leave the children unattended in the car.