Bensalem police charged Alexander Salter Jr., 60, of Trenton, with endangering the welfare of a child. According to court records, he had left his grandson at 3:05 p.m. for about a half-hour.
"No air was on," Bensalem Public Safety Director Fred Harran said. "No keys in the car. No water."
In the meantime, according to one of the investigators, Sgt. Andrew Aninsman, Salter had won about $100 playing slots.
"That's going to be nowhere near what he's going to need for his lawyer's fees," Aninsman said.
"I don't understand it," an incredulous Harran said late Thursday. "It's been all over the media. How people aren't wise to it . . . 24 years I've been doing this job, I can't figure people out."
Salter had been watching his grandson while the boy's mother was at work, Aninsman said. A mechanic, he had arranged to meet a customer at the casino lot.
With 20 minutes to kill, he decided to play the slots, parking his car illegally, Aninsman said. That drew the attention of casino security, who discovered the youth and called police.
"This is a hot day. Grandpa was inside, gambling away," said Bucks County District Attorney David W. Heckler, whose office approved the charges against Salter.
Salter was arraigned Thursday night via video conference and released on $25,000 unsecured bail. He refused to comment afterward.
"You take any person, sit them in a car with the windows down for a half-hour in 90-plus-degree weather and you tell me how you feel," Aninsman said. "The child is fine . . . Mr. Salter is very upset; he knows he did wrong."
For Parx officials, some of whom had just finished touting new security measures at the news conference, it was another public relations bust.
