On December 6th, 2024, police responded to hotel after learning that two-year very young kids were left alone for hours. What started as a welfare check turned into a much deer investigation neglect. I've at least been here for 12 minutes and the person who called had been here for some time before calling. So, this is ridiculous, honestly. Okay, so you have to stay in the room now with me. I'm I'm waiting because you keep going out there and I need to make sure these kids are good because you weren't here for like 30 minutes or no one was here. An adult was not here for 30 minutes with them. They were both sleeping. My sister just came out and I went to the store for 30 minutes. My sister was here. Ma'am, I'm telling you, the person who called is someone who works here. Okay, I understand that. But they have to they want to do the investigation with me cuz then they have to prove that I I was What's your first name? You need my first and last name. And what's a good phone number for you? 224. Okay. Okay. Well, this officer is in there watching your kids. We'll go in there and talk to them. Go inside and watch your children, please. Okay. This is Who was the your What's your name? that was watching them. How do you spell that? Can you stay over here, ma'am? I'm I'm trying to hear what's going on. So, and a phone number. I don't have her phone number. I literally have a laptop. You see, I don't even have a phone. How do you speak to her so that Facebook? Okay. Can I I just gave you her name. I don't have a phone number. This is I don't even have a phone. This is all I have. I can show you that. So, what do you want me to do? Where does she What's her address? Hello. Hi there. All right. Hi guys. What's going on today? You got a good point there, huh? They were left unattended. She says just 30 minutes, but it the claims like two or four hours. You stay here for just I got to find somebody who can talk to me on the side. Here, I'll I'll you guys can Yeah. Hi, boss. Mom is in here changing the other one. Oh my gosh. I think this is a mistake. Like she just or something. You want to switch places? You want to go in there with the kids? Are they okay? Yeah. You come in. So crazy. Your iPad is in the background. You don't have a phone? No. How would how would anyone contact you? What is Well, I just contact like Are you saying like how do I communicate with my family and everyone? Yeah. Let's say I'm trying to I'm trying to contact you. How would I contact you? Through Facebook Messenger. Facebook and then do you live here at this hotel? Yeah, this room. Okay. We were talking to Dalen. We just want to know the timeline of what happened. So, what I understood is Dalen went to the gas station. Can you start from there? When Dalen left to the gas station, where were you? I went outside at first and then I let my sister in. I was up here for a little and then I left for about 30 to 40 minutes. Okay. And your sister? Mhm. Okay. And you're in the room? You physically saw her in the room with the kids before leaving? Yes. Okay. And where did you go? Is this supposed to be like am I going to be arrested? Like what's going on? I'm just trying to figure out what happened right now. We walked into a room where kids are by themselves. I'm just trying to figure out what's going on like 30 minutes. But I understand. And were they was one of them sleeping? Neither one of them was sleeping. Okay. Cuz she just checked on the door and she was sleeping. But yeah, I I I think I've explained enough to the other officers. So, I've already had DCFS call on me before and I know how this [ __ ] goes. I'm the investigating officer. I'm going be the one that's going to be typing up stuff that happened. So, can you just tell me what happened? I was gone for 30 to 40 minutes. Okay. And you left. Was your sister in the room? Mhm. She's You can see on the cameras, she comes here frequently. She showers here. Does she have her own room key to the door? No, she would need mine. She has a key to get in through the doors, but my door is currently off. That's how you guys were able to get in. You left and then where did you you left and where'd you go? I went back down through this way. Okay. You you stayed in the hotel? No, I left. Okay. 30 to 40 minutes. Okay. Where'd you go? I went to make an errand. Where would that be? In Elgen. Elgen is pretty. I have to be very specific. I would like to know where you went. Yes. I went to go handle some business somewhere close to here. Where is it? It's about 15 minutes at at the most away. Did you drive there? No, I had a ride. You had a ride? Who'd you ride with? I think his names. Do you happen to have a last name? No. Yeah, it was requested for me. Is that like an Uber service or who requested that for you? My sister. Do you know right now? No, I don't. Probably at work. Okay. What time you usually go to work? She has different shifts. They rotate and it's peak season. So, I don't know. You left here to go run an errand. You got a ride from someone and you don't you don't want to tell me where that is? I just It's a little personal so I don't really Okay. feel the the need to express it, but So, I honestly just want to know what's going on so like I can know if you guys are trying to cancel before so I could just let my mom know and call my grandma. So I just want to know it's like how long ago did Dalen leave the uh hotel? I'm not sure because I was still here. Okay. And then you left how long ago you said? Well, now it's probably way longer than 30 to 40 minutes, right? Cuz I've been here about what How long were you gone? 25 minutes. I was gone for up to 40 minutes. When did you meet up with Dalen? Cuz you guys walked in here together. I called him as soon as I was on my way back. I thought neither one of you had a phone. Did you see me coming in with the laptop? You called him on a laptop. He has an iPad. Neither one of us don't have a phone. And where did you guys meet up at? Outside. Like outside the hotel? Mhm. So, we have to take the kids to the hospital. So, am I going with my kids? Well, we are taking them to the hospital so that they can get medically evaluated and then we're going to have to contact DCFS to see what they want to do from that point. I can't tell you what DCFS Tell me you're taking my kids away from me. They are going to the hospital to be checked out because the information that we've been provided is that they've been left there for several hours since before 2:00. So, we have an obligation to make sure that the kids are safe medically cared for. That time frame, really any time frame with kids that age is not acceptable. But when we're talking 3 plus hours, that's that's a problem. So, we have to make sure that they're okay. They have to be examined by a medical professional. I don't feel that. Am I not given the right to go with my kids to the hospital? Well, that's one thing we're going to be kind of talking about at this point. Just one second. Say you call her on your uh laptop. Let them do their thing and you can get you can have your laptop and you can call, text, however you need. Deja, can you stay out here? Call your mom or call someone. You want to take our kids? So, so again, I Let's not make this any more complicated. The kids are going to the hospital to get checked out by a medical professional because our investigations revealed that they've been left here alone since 1:30 p.m. which is completely unacceptable. We have an obligation to make sure that the kids are in a good medical condition. And so we are going to make sure that they're examined at a hospital and we're going to call DCFS for further direction. That's that's what it is. So, do we get our kids back after the hospital? We're going to have to call DCF. DCFS is going to make that determination. We're gonna have to call DCFS and I'm supposed to like trust that you guys are gonna You can trust us. Believe me, we will do a good job of of making sure that your kids are cared for. Okay? And and again, you can't even come with him. I don't have a cell phone. How you guys going to tell me what's going on on the dates with my daughter? We'll be with you. But one thing I will tell you is although you're upset and frustrated, cooperation is going to be very important to make sure that this is a smooth process. If you want if you want your kids back, then you need to cooperate. I already went through this [ __ ] before. I'm going to try to reiterate what the officer was saying. All right. On behalf of the Elgen Fire Department, we have to make sure that the kids are well taken care of. I'm Captain Walzac with the with the department. You've you've got my name. I can give you all the contact information you need. I believe one of the officers are going to be remaining. So, we're going to have ways. I understand your phone's not working. The city's going to provide you with an officer so that they can relay information. And so, you don't know like how long like we do. It's literally up to DC. Officers arrived, they learned the kids had been crying alone. That's a major red flag. A child's safety should never be left to chance, especially not in a hotel room with no adult present. The mother claimed her sister was there, but no one at the hotel saw any adult for quite a while. The officer stayed calm, but it was clear the situation didn't add up. The story kept changing. She tried to explain, saying she only left for 30 to 40 minutes. But for kids that young, even a short time alone is dangerous. The officer just wanted clear answers, but she was getting defensive. She said she didn't have a phone and communicated with people through Facebook. That's not reliable in an emergency. It's hard to believe someone would leave toddlers without a proper way to reach help. At this point, the officers decided to take the kids to the hospital. She was upset, but their job was to protect those children first. It was no longer about what she said. It was about making sure the kids were safe. She was arrested. The officers were direct. Leaving a one and threeyear-old alone is a crime. This wasn't about judgment. It was about protecting children from real danger. She was charged with two counts of child endangerment for being the kids. No, it's okay. I'm going on your back. I'm going. I'm going. For what? Put your arms. Put them on your back. For what? For what? Me? No. I had mying sister here. She wasn't here. The video shows she wasn't here. Okay. You can't lie with the video. I don't give a You guys had to see everything. Okay. From beginning to see how many people enter these doors. Okay. I did. I did. Okay. There was no Did you guys call them yet? We're calling them. We're dealing with you guys first. What? Please. They're taking me to jail. For what? For endangering going to be in danger. No. Please, bro. No. That's [ __ ] It's [ __ ] It is [ __ ] What's [ __ ] is leaving your kids. You guys cannot do this [ __ ] You keep your kid. We were called here. We didn't come here because we just decided to stroll in here. We were called by the hotel because you made a bad decision to leave your kids home alone. That's what it boils down to. That's nice. You can make excuses all you want, but the reality is is you committed a crime and we have an obligation to make sure that your kids are okay. If you think it's okay to leave your kids in a in a hotel room by themselves for 3 hours, if you think that that's okay, that's a rational thing in your head, then you have some serious problems because we have probable cause to believe that these kids were left unattended in a hotel room at age 2 and four, which is completely unacceptable under any circumstance. One and four. One, sorry. One and three. Left them in a hotel room. And then you want to get upset with us like this is our problem that we created. No, no, no. We didn't create this problem. We are now forced to deal with it because you guys made a bad decision. And I'm not trying to talk down to you or belittle you. But there there is a point in time when we need to take some self responsibility for our actions. And this is unaccept. And when unacceptable things happen and criminal law is broken, we have an obligation as the police to do what we need to do. We care about your kids. We want to make sure your kids are safe. Leaving kids alone for a 3 plus hour period is not acceptable. There are resources available to help you. guys don't even have like this is crazy. So even when we're inside and out, right? I leave for 5 minutes. You did not. I'm asking I'm asking what is the consecutive time that I have to be. There is no set timeline. It's what's reason. So if I leave for 10 minutes and I go outside, smoke a blunt and I come back in. That's unacceptable. It depends on the circumstances. That's not the circumstances we're dealing with right now. The circumstances we're dealing with are that the kids were left alone for 3 plus hours. So that I just took my kids. So now how am I like this is crazy. So, someone's going to stay with me the whole night and make sure they're going to tell me every update with my daughter. That's not the plan. So, what's the plan? We're going to be with you so that if you have questions about what what's going on, we're going to share that. What's the plan? The plan is you're going to be going down to the police station with us to address this. I'm getting arrested, too. Yes, you both are because they they're saying that they have evidence. The judge will see everything. I've already had this this exact same thing going on. And we're not saying you're guilty of anything. We're saying we have guilty until proven. We we're saying you have we have probable cause for your arrest for endangering the life and health of a child. Actually, two counts because there's two children involved. That's what I'm telling you. I'm not I'm not trying to tell you that you're guilty of anything. That's for the courts to decide. But we have an obligation when innocent children are involved in a case that we have to do everything line by line to the book. And I would not be doing your children a service if I just left them here with you and said, you know, let's try and do better. It doesn't work that way, unfortunately. Now, DCFS is going to ask us for photos of the conditions that we found the kids in. Can we take pictures for their purposes? I'm saying that the DCFS want to see the photo, see if my kids are okay. They can't see if they don't have pictures. They're not going to come here. They're going to go to the hospital. Okay, then they can see them at the hospital. But no, they can't take photos. They're not taking photos of my my children. No, no, no. I'm I'm talking about the conditions of your apartment. You cannot take pictures of No, my apartment. You don't want me to? No. I mean, it's for the most part, it's not that bad, but it it documents the conditions at the time that we were here. Okay. All So, so you're asking to take permission photos? Yeah. Okay. No, you can't. Okay. They said that we left Yes. So, they took both the babies away from us and took them to the hospital right now and now they're trying to charge me and dealing with child endangerment. What is the process from here? I'm going to be taken to the police station, booked and processed, and then we'll go from there. So, you guys witnessed my door lock, right? And you have it on camera like that my kids stuff is safe. Yeah. I mean it's locked in there of course, but you guys were already in the room. So I just want to make sure that no one else can get in and take any of my children's or my management can get it. So the charge that I'm being arrested for is child endangerment and their father's being charged with the same thing. Yes. Even though it's my hotel room and I stay there. You both are the parents, aren't you? When you run my name, are you able to see like if I've been charged with anything? Yep. It's all here. So can you inform me of what I've been charged with beside today? No, the police officer can put a charge on you, right? But it has to be the judge is the one that makes the ultimate determination, right? Jury or judge. I think I'm learning something. I didn't know that. I just Case summary. A baby was found left alone. The mother was later confronted by police. An investigation was launched and child protective services were notified.