OCEAN CITY — A Harrisburg, Pa. couple was arrested after leaving their 10-month-old baby alone in a hotel room while they strolled the Boardwalk on Tuesday afternoon.
Shortly before 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Ocean City Police detectives responded to the Atlantic Hotel on the Boardwalk in reference to a domestic dispute and a check on the welfare of a 10-month old baby. Upon arrival in the hotel lobby, OCPD detectives observed a hotel employee holding a baby. A short time later, the baby’s mother, identified as Anastasia Thomas, 27, of Harrisburg, arrived in the lobby and the employee turned the infant over to Thomas.
OCPD detectives interviewed hotel employees, who told police Thomas and her husband, Rodney Scott, 44, also of Harrisburg, had arrived at the hotel with their infant child and requested a room and paid cash. It was later learned that Scott had been arrested for assaulting Thomas the night before at a West Ocean City campground and that he had been released around 4:30 a.m. after being released from custody with a pretrial release not to have any contact with Thomas.
A short time after checking in at the Atlantic Hotel, employees observed Thomas and Scott leaving the hotel without their baby. About 45 minutes later, hotel cleaning staffers heard a baby crying and alerted the front desk. Front desk personnel went to the room and heard the baby crying and knocked on the door to no avail. After getting no response, the hotel staff opened the room and found the baby crying inside with no parents around and called police.
OCPD detectives interviewed Thomas, who allegedly told police she knew leaving a 10-month-old baby in a room unattended for that period of time was poor judgment, but that the baby was napping when Thomas and Scott left the room and that the couple was on the Boardwalk. Thomas told police they were returning when Scott saw OCPD officers and walked away on the Boardwalk. The OCPD detective noted in his report Thomas appeared to be intoxicated, and when asked where the couple had been while the baby was left unattended, she told police they had been at a Boardwalk bar.
Police made contact with Scott via text message in an attempt to get him to come back and assist with the care of the child. Scott’s only text responses, according to police reports, were that the baby’s belongings were in the couple’s truck and that Thomas knew where the truck was parked. Scott then allegedly texted police he was in Rehoboth, which the officers knew was impossible because of the time frame of the events up to that point.
According to police reports, Scott was avoiding police and not coming back to the scene because he knew he was in violation of the terms of his pretrial release from the assault the night before.
In the meantime, an OCPD detective escorted Thomas and the baby around downtown Ocean City for about an hour in an attempt to locate the truck. Because of Thomas’ level of intoxication and her unfamiliarity with Ocean City streets, other OCPD officers were called to help. The truck was eventually located at the Inlet parking lot. Still, Scott had not returned. However, at one point during the search for the truck, he texted police he was returning to the hotel, but over two hours passed.
OCPD detectives in the meantime had requested Social Services to respond to take custody of the baby because there was no responsible or sober adult to care for the child. Thomas was arrested and charged with leaving a child unattended. Around 4:20 p.m., Scott was located walking north on the Boardwalk and was taken into custody and charged with leaving a child unattended. Both were later released on a $5,000 bond.