(Stillwater, Okla.) — A Perkins man who is accused of leaving his baby unattended in an unlocked car with the motor running while he allegedly stole a cell phone from the Dollar General Store has been jailed on $7,500 bail pending a March 26 court appearance.
If convicted of child neglect and shoplifting on Feb. 25, Travis Ray Bain, 28, could be given a life prison term plus 30 days and a $5,500 fine, according to the two-count charge filed in Payne County District Court.
Perkins Deputy Police Chief Steve Hensley was notified by Chief Bob Ernst at 3:30 p.m. on Feb. 25 that an infant was reportedly unattended in a station wagon at the Dollar General Store in Perkins, an affidavit said.
“When I arrived, I located the vehicle being parked in a parking stall next to the entrance of the store facing north.
“When I approached the vehicle, I did see a small infant child sitting in a child restraint seat in the back seat behind the driver’s seat.
“The infant child was unattended and the vehicle was running and the doors were unlocked,” the deputy police chief wrote in his affidavit.
“When I approached the store, I saw a white male coming out of the store towards me. When he looked up, he stopped and turned around and went between two vehicles that were parked in front of the store.
“As I got closer, I heard him throw something underneath a vehicle. When I approached the male, I asked him if the infant child that is sitting unattended in the station wagon was his child; he stated yes,” the deputy police chief alleged in his affidavit.
“I then asked Bain what he tossed under the vehicle. Bain told me he had stolen a cell phone and that is what he threw under the vehicle,” the deputy police chief alleged in his affidavit.
“I then asked Bain why he left his infant child unattended instead of taking the child with him into the store. Bain stated he was just going to run in the store and run out.
“Bain said he thought it would be okay because he left the vehicle running,” the deputy police chief alleged in his affidavit.
“I then was approached by a Dollar Store employee who was holding a Verizon cell box; the employee told me he found this under a vehicle where I saw Bain walking,” the deputy police chief alleged in his affidavit.
After Bain was arrested for shoplifting, Bain provided a phone number for a relative to whom the baby could be released, while the police chief contacted the state Department of Human Services, the affidavit said.
“Chief Ernst found a red plastic gas can that appeared to be swollen in the back of the vehicle the infant was sitting it,” which the chief said had gasoline in it, the affidavit said.
“After finding the gasoline, I went to my patrol car and asked Bain if there was anything else that might be in the car that could harm the infant child. Bain said there wasn’t,” the deputy chief wrote in his affidavit.
The Perkins police chief transported the baby and his mother to the police department to meet with DHS, which released the one-year-old boy to his mother, the affidavit said.
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