A Chicago man has been sentenced to a year and a half probation for leaving his elderly and ailing mother sitting in a wheelchair outside a Gary, Indiana casino while he played shots machines and table games for several hours.
Andrew Hawkins Jr., 57, was charged in March with being negligent in the care of a dependent for leaving his 82- year old mother outside of the casino. Other casino patrons and employees of the Majestic Star Casino along Lake Michigan called the police after they noticed that an elderly woman had been sitting outside the casino in the cold for hours. The sentencing was handed down by a county judge on Thursday.
Police investigators said that the elderly woman had been sitting in her wheelchair outside the casino for up to 15 hours while her son gambled inside. They said that the woman’s health had suffered as a result of her ordeal, and the 82 year- old had to be taken to a local hospital to be treated for a broken hip and other maladies. |
