FMPD: Man leaves 2 children in SUV at strip club

FORT MYERS, Fla. A Fort Myers man faces two charges of child neglect after allegedly leaving two children unattended in an SUV while visiting a strip club Thursday night.

Willie Lee Jordan Jr., 23, is accused of leaving two children inside a car while at Scarlett’s Cabaret on Fowler Avenue.

Police say a woman reported hearing children crying inside a vehicle in the Scarlett’s parking lot as she was passing by.

“I walked over to the vehicle and there seems to be an infant, a 3-month old boy who is not strapped in the car seat … upside down, his head is where his feet should be, butt up in the air,” Scarlett’s General Manager Christopher Mays said.

After an announcement inside the club, Jordan returned to the car where Mays was able to get an older child in the SUV to unlock the door.

“It’s devastating … it’s devastating that people can do that to children … it really opens your eyes to what goes on in this world, how nasty things can be,” Mays said.

Florida law allows children under six to be left in a car unattended for less than 15 minutes.

“Believe it or not, there’s only 19 states that I could find that actually has laws about keeping a child in a car unattended,” Criminal Defense Attorney Lance Dunford said.

Mays says Jordan was in the club for more than 30 minutes and worries what could have happened if no one heard the cries.

“I mean 3-months old, he was upside down already… he was panicking, God only knows how much longer an upside infant has in a car seat,” Mays said.

Department of Children and Families was contacted and is conducting an investigation.