A night of gambling at Parx Casino ended in handcuffs for a Willingboro mother after police say she left her 14-month-old son locked in a car in the Bensalem parking lot for roughly two-and-a-half hours. The toddler was found sweating in the back seat, taken to a nearby hospital for evaluation, and later released to his father. Authorities say the child's mother, 37-year-old Leola Dualuqua, was ultimately located inside the casino and taken into custody.
Bensalem Township police say officers were called to the Parx parking lot shortly before 9 p.m. on April 14 and used a lockout kit to get into the vehicle, where they found the 14-month-old sleeping but "visibly sweating" as temperatures climbed into the mid-80s, according to FOX 29. Casino security, the outlet reports, helped officers identify the car and track down the child's mother on the gaming floor. Police charged her with endangering the welfare of a child and leaving a child unattended in a motor vehicle.
Medical crews took the child to St. Mary Medical Center, and he was later released to his father after evaluation, per CBS Philadelphia. Court records show Dualuqua posted 10 percent of a $25,000 bond and was released from the Bucks County Correctional Facility ahead of future court proceedings. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for April 30 in Bucks County court, according to CBS Philadelphia.
Surveillance video described in the probable-cause affidavit reportedly shows Dualuqua leaving her vehicle around 6:28 p.m. and never returning before officers intervened and reached her inside Parx, according to local reporting by Patch. The affidavit states emergency workers found the child "very hot," covered in sweat, and wearing a soiled diaper. Patch reports that Dualuqua was arraigned by District Justice Corryn Kronnagel and remanded to the Bucks County Correctional Facility on bond.
Pattern at Parx and regulatory response
This case is the latest in a string of incidents in which casino patrons have allegedly left children alone in cars while they gamble, a pattern state regulators say they are trying to crack down on. In June 2025, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board placed several people on its involuntary exclusion list after patrons left minors unattended and rolled out a "Don't Gamble With Kids" awareness effort, according to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. Casino security teams say they monitor parking lots and alert police when they spot unattended children, and regulators have used exclusion actions and other enforcement tools in repeat cases.
Legal implications
The charges against Dualuqua include endangering the welfare of a child, a Pennsylvania statute that makes it a crime to knowingly violate a duty of care in a way that places a child at risk. Under state law, that offense can be graded as a felony if the conduct created a substantial risk of death or serious bodily injury, as outlined in 18 Pa.C.S. § 4304 and described by Justia. Any eventual sentence would depend on how prosecutors choose to charge the case and what facts are proven in court.
The upcoming preliminary hearing is expected to give a clearer picture of what happened in the parking lot that night and how aggressively the case will be prosecuted. In the meantime, the incident has stirred fresh debate over casino safety policies and whether current oversight tools are enough to deter adults from leaving children alone while they gamble.
