Gambler left 98-year-old wheelchair-bound mom in hot truck outside casino, cops say

Police in Maryland arrested a visiting North Carolina man after discovering he had left his 98-year-old mother in his truck in the sweltering heat while he was in a casino gambling.

Dwight McGinnis Jr, 67, of Raleigh, faces a charge of vulnerable adult neglect.

According to police, a passerby called 911 to report seeing an elderly woman sitting alone in a truck in the parking plot of the Maryland Live! Casino, according to WBAL.

Responding, the officers found the woman, who is wheelchair-bound and can't take care of herself, sitting in the truck with a single window cracked open in the 80-degree heat. Investigators said there was an empty soda can in the truck but nothing else for her to eat or drink.

According to the parking lot records, the woman had been sitting in the truck for over five hours.

"She didn't have food, she didn't have any water, anything inside this vehicle" Anne Arudel County police officer T.J. Smith said. "She wasn't in a position where she could get out and get help if she needed it."

Police said the woman seemed confused and responded incoherently to the arriving officer's questions, but after being given water, was able to help direct them to her son. Paramedics attended to the woman, however she was not determined to be in medical duress.

Officers called her son on his cell phone and he finally returned to the truck after 45 minutes at which time he was placed under arrest.

McGinnis was also served with an outstanding warrant for failure to appear for driving on a suspended license.