A central Florida mother is being charged with child neglect after police say she left her son in her car while she gambled at an Internet cafe and the car, with the boy, got repossessed.
Elizabeth Tato, 46, was gambling at the Winner’s Club Internet Cafe when a repossession man came to take her car while her 11-year-old son slept inside.
“She was in there for over an hour, playing whatever machines are in there, not paying attention to her 11-year-old child,” said Ron Beardslee, a detective with the Edgewood Police Department.
According to the police report, the tow truck driver was already down the road when the 11-year-old woke up. He had not seen the child in the car before hooking it up to his truck.
Rather than call the police, the repo man left the boy at a gas station. The manager there called the boy’s father, who came to get him.
“I don’t want her to do that again,” said Virgilo Chang, the boy’s father. Chang said his ex-wife has left the child alone before to go shopping. “You know, that’s my son. If you don’t want him, I want him.”
Edgewood police are still working to identify the tow truck driver who accidentally took the boy.
