A tourist said she only left daughter in a Hard Rock garage briefly — but police differ
Maybe the lure of the guitar-shaped hotel was just too enticing.
A couple visiting Florida from Ecuador headed into the recently expanded Hard Rock Hotel and Casino complex near Hollywood. But Seminole police say Sintia Pinargote and Carlos Enrique Herrera Pluas left a 7-year-old girl unattended inside a car in the venue’s Lucky Street Garage on the third floor for about an hour, according to Seminole Police spokesman Gary Bitner.
The pair were inside the casino, Bitner said.
Pinargote, 31, is the girl’s mother. (The father is Ecuadorian soccer player Enner Valencia, 29, a forward for Liga MX Club Tigres UANL.)
At Broward County’s Central courthouse on Monday, Pinargote said she only ran inside the venue just after midnight Sunday to pick up Pluas, 32, WPLG Local 10 reported. But surveillance cameras spotted the couple arriving at the casino together around midnight.
The girl was seen inside the car in the casino’s garage at about 12:30 a.m., according to Seminole police, NBC6 reported.
“Seminole Police and Casino Security officers follow a zero tolerance policy for children left alone in vehicles at Seminole Casinos,” Seminole Police and Bitner said in a statement.
The pair were charged with abuse of a child without great bodily harm, a third-degree felony, according to Broward Jail records. The girl was placed in custody of the Department of Children and Families.
Pluas and Pinargote are being held on $5,000 bond apiece, according to Broward court records.
This story was originally published October 29, 2019 at 10:11 AM.
