2 Men sentenced for leaving kids at Parx

Two men sentenced for leaving children in cars outside Parx


Paul Vargas won't be in church next month for his son's First Holy Communion.
Vargas, 34, will instead be in the Bucks County prison.

He was sent there Monday by a judge who said the Bensalem man had gambled away his chance to be at his son's special day.

"You have given up your right to attend," Bucks County Court Judge Albert J. Cepparulo told him, "by virtue of your crimes in this case."

On Aug. 25, Vargas had left the boy and his 7-year-old brother alone at night in his SUV outside Bensalem's Parx Casino. He was playing blackjack inside when other patrons spotted the boys and a pit bull puppy in the vehicle and called security.

It was one of nine such incidents reported at the casino from June 15 through Oct. 11, and one of the first two to be resolved in court Monday.

Cepparulo sentenced Vargas to 90 days of probation for disorderly conduct and 90 days in jail for driving with a suspended license and having a blood-alcohol level of at least 0.02 percent. In an unrelated case, he slapped on a further two to 23 months in prison for heroin possession.

But it was the casino lapse that seemed to frost the judge the most.

"Do you understand the absolute stupidity of allowing your child to be left alone these days?" Cepparulo asked incredulously.

"I'm stupid. I understand that," Vargas said.

"I don't think you truly understand that bad things happen to kids when they're left alone like that," the judge said.

When Vargas asked not to be jailed until after his son's Dec. 12 communion, Cepparulo refused.

Assistant District Attorney Blake Jackman said that because the boys had been alone for no more than 15 minutes, it would have been hard to prove the harsher charge of endangering the welfare of a child, so charges were reduced to disorderly conduct.

Also sentenced Monday was Alexander Salter Jr., 60, of Trenton. He pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct for leaving his 12-year-old grandson in his car at Parx for about a half-hour on the afternoon of Sept. 2.

Salter, a mechanic, had gone to the lot to look at a car. When the person he had arranged to meet was late, he decided to kill time in the casino, leaving his cell phone with the boy.

Cepparulo was more forgiving of Salter, who arrived in court dressed in shirt and tie, bib overalls, and a sport coat. The judge sentenced him to 90 days of probation and 25 hours of community service.

Cepparulo suggested that Salter might serve those hours at Parx, possibly helping the casino keep other children from being left alone.

Salter said that he had raised nine children of his own.

"Yeah, I think you might be qualified," the judge said. "In fact, I know you are."