Charges: Dad Passed Out On Meth While Child, 4, Wanders Hotel
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Two young children have been placed in foster care after police say an Elgin man was found earlier this week passed out in a hotel room while one of his kids wandered the lobby alone.
Michael John Alexander, 39, faces gross misdemeanor charges for child neglect and endangerment, as well as a felony drug charge for possessing meth, documents filed in Dakota County say.
According to a criminal complaint, an Eagan police officer was patrolling around 2 a.m. Monday when an employee at the Extended Stay Hotel flagged him down. The employee showed the officer surveillance video of a girl, who looked to be about 4 years old, crawling over the hotel's front desk.
Hotel staff picked up the girl, whose diaper was full to the point of leaking, and tried to find her parents.
After talking with other guests, it was determined which room the girl's father was staying in. At first, hotel staff tried to call the registered phone number, but no one answered. Then they tried to knock on the door. Still, there was no answer. Finally, hotel staff opened the door and went into the room.
Inside, hotel staff found a 1-year-old child sleeping on the floor and a man, identified later as Alexander, sleeping in the bed. When hotel staff were finally able to wake him, Alexander appeared to be on drugs.
That's when the police officer was called into the room, and he, too, thought Alexander was high.
In a search of the room, the officer found pipes and what appeared to be plastic bags in the garbage. When the officer asked Alexander whom the drug paraphernalia belonged to, Alexander said, "Just arrest me," the complaint states.
Alexander had about $2,500 in cash on him when he was arrested, and the substance found in the plastic bags later tested positive for meth.
If convicted of all charges, Alexander faces a maximum sentence of 7 years behind bars and/or a $16,000 fine.
The two children, both of which had extremely full diapers when authorities found them, were placed in foster care.
