Tuan Huynh of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania plead guilty on Tuesday to charges of child endangerment for abandoning his daughter at a shopping mall. Photo via screencapture from MyFoxPhilly
A Montgomery County, Pennsylvania man plead guilty on Tuesday to charges of child endangerment for abandoning his daughter at a shopping mall.
According to police, the father’s motive was simply that the daughter got a bad grade in school.
The 16-year-old received a bad grade on her calculus test, she was forced to pack and bag and get into her father’s car.
The father, 47-year-old Tuan Huynh, dropped his daughter off near the Cheltenham Square Mall and told her that she no longer met her parents’ expectations for grades and was told not to come home.
He left her on busy Cheltenham Avenue to fend for herself. Even if she attempted to walk home, it would have taken her four hours.
Assistant District Attorney Cara McMenamin told MyFoxPhilly that the girl wandered around near the Cheltenham Mall for hours asking strangers for a place to stay before a minister finally approached her and called for help.
The assistant DA described the girl who feared she would never see her family again as a “soft-spoken, extremely serious young girl” who has aspirations of being a classical pianist.
It was through piano sheet music found in her bag, along just a change of clothes and a blanket, that helped authorities discover the girl’s identity.
The girl initially gave the police a fake name, as the arrest affidavits said, her father told her when he dumped her off not to tell police who she was told “not to tell police who you are.”
The girl’s real name was written on some of the sheet music in her bag.
According to police, the girl did not have a cell phone or any other family in the area to go to for help.
“She didn’t know where she was. She had never been to the area before,” the assistant DA said. “She was terrified. She’s lucky somebody didn’t grab her and abduct her.”
After pleading guilty to child endangerment, Huynh was told that he isn’t allowed to return home until after he has completed parenting classes. However, MyFoxPhilly reports they saw his car in his driveway and asked to speak to him, but a woman outside the home refused.
The assistant DA told MyFoxPhilly that he had no remorse for what he did and that he can do with his child what he sees fit.
“Throw her out instead of getting her a tutor. What kind of choice is that for a parent to make?” said the assistant DA, who prosecuted Huynh, reports Montgomery News. “It’s unconscionable and outrageous.”
Huynh was also sentenced to two years probation and 100 hours of community service. He could have faced up to five years in prison.
Sources: MyFoxPhilly, Montgomery News
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