He Wanted To Leave Tot There, Worker Says
When a man left a baby back in his car and asked whether he could use her cell phone, Minouche Elisin said she knew something wasn’t right.
It wasn’t just where they were — Showgirls Men’s Club in Plant City, where Eliasin works at the door and babies are not allowed.
“It was the way he was acting,” said Eliasin, 23. “He had his keys in his hand, and he seemed like he was intoxicated.”
Robert Hancock, 44, of 6427 Black Dairy Road, Seffner, was arrested on charges of felony child neglect and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a misdemeanor.
It was just before 8 p.m. Sunday when the man showed up to use the pay phone outside the club, Eliasin said. He wanted to call someone about dropping off the baby bu the pay phone wasn’t working, so he came inside.
Eliasin gew more suspicious when she looked outside and noticed the baby was in the car, a blue Toyota, with the windows up.
“I asked, ‘Where’s the mom?’ ” Eliasin said. The man was evasive.
As he went outside to use the cell phone, she watched him to make sure he did not take off with it.
He came back inside the club, but the baby, a 6-month-old boy, was still in the car, Eliasin said. She told him to get the baby out of the car. The child was sweaty and had a wet diaper, she said.
He asked her not to call the authorities. She told him to go out to the car, get a change of clothes, a diaper and a bottle. When he returned, he once again asked her not to call.
After about 10 minutes with the man, Eliasin said, she figured there was something very wrong and had her manager call the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. Meantime, she said, she knew she had to keep him there.
She asked again about the mother. The man ignored her, she said, so she took off the baby’s clothes. She asked him again, and he ignored her again. A friend of hers gave the baby a bottle.
“He was freaking out,” she said. “I said, ‘tell me what is going on.’”
Finally, the man broke down, repeatedly telling her his plan. He wanted to leave the baby at the strip club, Eliasin said.
“He just kept saying, ‘I need someone to watch the baby for a week or two,’” Eliasin said. “‘I’ll come back. You guys are so nice. Thanks, I appreciate it.’ “
The man said he had taken the boy from his grandparents’ house and people were looking for the child. He then asked whether he and the baby could stay with Eliasin “for a day or two.”
Hancock smelled of alcohol, his eyes were glassy and he was unsteady, deputies said in a report.
When deputies went to his car, they found drug paraphernalia in the center console, the report said. He was also hit with a posession of drug paraphernalia charge.
About 10 minutes after her manager called, deputies showed up and arrested Hancock.
Hancock is in Orient Road Jail with bail set at $3,000.
“I never saw a baby in her before,” Eliasin said. “I am pregnant myself, and I knew something was wrong.”
