Insets, left to right: Lillian Mun and Terrence Wright (Brevard County Jail). Background: The Seminole Classic Casino in Hollywood, Florida, where Mun and Wright allegedly left three children alone in a car (WTVJ).
A mother and stepfather from Florida are accused of leaving three young children alone in a car without any food or water or a phone to call for help so they could go gambling in a casino.
Lillian Mun, 30, and Terrence Wright, 40, are charged with three counts of child neglect.
Cops responded shortly after 1:30 a.m. Sunday to the Seminole Classic Casino in Hollywood after security found three young children in a turned-off Jeep who "appeared to be unconscious," a probable cause arrest affidavit said.
Officers opened the Jeep's door and could "feel the heat." The children, all under the age of 6, were sweating but were otherwise in good health.
The kids did not have access to a phone, food or water, according to police.
Wright arrived at the vehicle first. He said he and Mun went to the casino to use the bathroom, the affidavit stated. Mun came out a few minutes later and said she had been in the vehicle with the kids while Wright was in the casino, cops wrote.
She said the Jeep turned off because Wright had the keys, so she went inside to find him. The kids were alone for about 20 minutes, she claimed.
But surveillance video showed that the couple was not telling the truth, according to the affidavit.
They purportedly arrived at the casino around 11:50 p.m., and Wright walked in. Mun went into the casino around 12:38 a.m. Three minutes later, she was sitting at the slots with Wright, watching him gamble, cops allege. She was later seen playing the slots herself, cops said.
In all, the kids were alone for about an hour.
"The children were left inside the vehicle turned off and the windows up; the outside temperature was 76 degrees Fahrenheit with 89% humidity," cops wrote.
Wright and Mun have been dating for about three years and they live together, with Wright serving as a father figure to the kids, police said.
One of Mun's friends has taken custody of the kids. The Department of Children and Families responded to conduct its own investigation.
Wright has since bonded out of jail. Mun, who is on probation for a grand theft charge, remains incarcerated without bond. Their next court dates are not listed.
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