[Getty Images]
[Getty Images]

A man in his 30s was arrested in the United States after leaving his 6-year-old daughter alone in a predawn store line while he went home — all to buy Pokémon trading cards.

John Michael Dooley, 35, of South Carolina was taken into custody around 2:30 a.m. Friday outside a Target store in Charleston, according to Fox News, which reported the story Sunday (local time).

A large overnight queue had formed outside the store ahead of the release of "Mega Evolution — Delta Rain," the latest Pokémon trading card expansion set.

Dooley had been waiting in line with his daughter when, around 1 a.m., he gave her a pillow and blanket. He then left the sleeping child alone in the line and returned home.

Police responded after receiving a report of a young child outside the store without a guardian, and determined that the child had originally been in line with her father to buy the new Pokémon card set.

When Dooley returned to the store, bystanders identified him to officers, and he was arrested on the spot.

Dooley acknowledged to authorities that he had left his daughter to hold their place in line while he went home. It was not determined whether he had intended to buy the cards for himself or for his daughter.

Dooley faces charges of unlawfully endangering or abandoning a child and is scheduled for his first court appearance on Dec. 12. The child was unharmed and was transferred to South Carolina's social services agency for emergency protective care.

Pokémon cards are popular not only among children but also adults, and new releases routinely draw long lines and early-morning rushes outside stores. In the United States, packs sell for around $5 each, though rare cards can fetch thousands of dollars on the resale market.


betterj@heraldcorp.com