An Ohio father is facing child endangerment charges after being accused of leaving his 8-year-old daughter in charge of her 2- and 4-year-old siblings while he and another daughter rode a roller coaster at Cedar Point.
According to Sandusky police, a park visitor alerted Cedar Point security around 9 p.m. on Friday that a two-year-old girl was playing “in the dirt” next to the Magnum roller coaster and no parents were in sight.
According to police, park security took the young girl to an unattended car with a four-year-old girl inside that was spotted near the Corkscrew roller coaster.
According to the police report, security waited about 20 minutes for the father, a 36-year-old from Seneca County, to return with his 9-year-old daughter after the Corkscrew ride. The Beacon Journal is not publishing the father’s name to protect the identity of the minor children.
The father explained to officers that he had left the children with another eight-year-old daughter to look after them while he rode the roller coaster with the nine-year-old.
“He advised that he only waited in line for a few minutes and then returned to his children,” the police report states. “It should be noted that during this time, the ride was interrupted for at least 20 minutes while (the father) waited in line.”
According to the police report, the father admitted to officers that he also left the 8-year-old alone when he and his 9-year-old daughter rode the Gatekeeper roller coaster earlier in the day. But “he was able to see his other three children while he was waiting in line.”
He told Sandusky police that he let the younger children ride unsupervised in the park up to three times.
According to police, the father was released on parole the evening of the incident after consultation with Sandusky City Judge Erich O’Brien because no one else in the park could care for the children.
The incident was reported to the Seneca County Department of Employment and Family Services.
