Hard Rock player faces arrest for leaving child unattended
On Christmas Eve, the staff at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida, discovered that a baby was left alone near the bell desk.
The infant, wearing a soiled diaper, had been outside for about 30 minutes before police arrived. Afterward, the baby’s mother, 29-year-old Rubi C. Verduzco from Oklahoma, arrived at the scene and claimed she’d been in an argument with the child’s father and left the baby with unidentified “friends.”
Officers described her with slurred speech, red eyes, and the smell of alcohol on her breath. When asked basic questions about her child, Verduzco couldn’t even say the baby’s birth date. To give answers, she contacted a man she said was the baby’s father, but his responses raised even more questions. At first, he claimed he was in Oklahoma and only later admitted he was in Orlando. He suggested the state take custody of the baby instead of coming to collect the child himself.
Verduzco was arrested on child neglect charges because she couldn’t explain who was responsible for watching her baby or for how long. The Florida Department of Children and Families has taken custody of the child.
The mother remains in the Broward County jail with a $2,500 fine. This heartbreaking incident once again shows the importance of ensuring children’s safety, especially during the holiday season.