Bensalem police have arrested a 54-year-old man and plan to charge him with leaving his grandson in a vehicle while he gambled at Parx Casino, Thursday afternoon.

KYW’s Pat Loeb reports this is the 7th time this summer police have arrested adults at the Bucks County casino, after they left children unattended in the parking lot.

Casino security spotted the 12-year-old boy inside the vehicle, just before 4 o’clock, when temperatures hit the mid-90′s. He was taken inside the casino to cool off.

The arrest came just as two state lawmakers were announcing plans to toughen the penalty for leaving children unattended in a vehicle.

KYW’s Brad Segall reports that the legislation would make it a felony for leaving kids under 13 in a car unattended — a felony which could carry a jail sentence of 3½ to seven years.

Currently the crime is misdemeanor.

(L-R: St. Rep. Gene DiGirolamo, Bensalem public safety dir. Fred Harran, St. Sen. Tommy Tomlinson, at today's press conference.)

Pennsylvania state senator Tommy Tomlinson says the bill stops short of calling for mandatory jail time:

“We want the judge to kick in social services, we want the judge to bring in all those counselors and the things that we can do with the county and social services to help this family with this problem.”

Parx officials say new signage is going up warning their patrons that leaving kids in the car is a crime.  The casino is also doubling the number of security cameras and increasing roving patrols in the parking lot.

State representative Gene DiGirolamo is pushing the bill in the House.

(Photo by KYW’s Brad Segall)