A 35-year-old Massachusetts woman was arrested Saturday after police found her 15-month-old infant left alone in an unlocked vehicle at Bally’s Tiverton Casino.
The Tiverton Police Department responded to the casino at approximately 7:00 a.m. on July 12 following a report of an unattended infant in a vehicle. Officers, working alongside casino security personnel, located a white Toyota parked on the upper level of the casino’s parking garage.
Inside the unlocked vehicle, officers discovered the infant asleep in a car seat, accompanied by a small dog.
Police identified the vehicle’s owner as Elyse Busch, 35, of Onset, Massachusetts. Through surveillance footage and identification obtained from Busch’s driver’s license, officers determined she had been inside the casino playing a slot machine. The surveillance video confirmed Busch had been inside the casino for over thirty minutes.
Busch was taken into custody and charged with cruelty to or neglect of a child. The infant was transported by Tiverton Rescue to Hasbro Children’s Hospital for evaluation. Both the Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) and the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF) were notified of the incident. The child was later released to a family member.
Busch was arraigned and released on $3,000 surety bail. She is scheduled to appear in Newport District Court on July 17, 2025.
The investigation remains active, and no further details are available at this time.
Anyone with information about this incident is encouraged to contact Captain Michael Miguel at the Tiverton Police Department at (401) 816-4423 or mmiguel@tivertonpoliceri.com.
