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Mother In Court After Allegedly Leaving Son In Car To Gamble At Casino

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – A mother accused of leaving her young son in a car while she went to the Rivers Casino was in court Friday.

Valerie Snyder, 30, of Tarentum, is faced child endangerment charges after her 9-year-old son was found alone, inside a car on the sixth floor of the casino's parking garage.

She was in court for a preliminary hearing Friday.

Snyder says she won a free $10 voucher for Rivers Casino at a Pittsburgh Pirates game.

According to the criminal complaint, she told police that the voucher was only good for 24 hours and she didn't want to have to drive back to Tarentum and then back to the casino.

She also claimed she couldn't find anyone to watch her son while she ran into the casino.

Someone reported that the boy was left unattended and police were called to the scene. Police paged Snyder, who returned to her car. She told police she simply redeemed the voucher and came right back out.

The casino also spoke out after the incident saying it does its best to keep situations like this from happening.

"We can't stop parents from making bad decisions; but we are vigilant in our efforts to prevent this from happening," said a Rivers Casino spokesperson. "In addition to multiple, large underage restriction signs, our parking lot is monitored 24/7 by surveillance cameras and patrols. This individual will receive a lifetime ban from our casino. We take this issue very seriously."

She was placed under arrest just after 10 p.m.

Police called the boy's father to come to Rivers Casino and pick him up.

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