Dad accused of leaving 3 kids alone at Cedar Point so he could ride roller coasters

An Ohio father is accused of leaving his three young children alone in a giant amusement park while he spent the day riding roller coasters.

Sandusky police were called to Cedar Point the evening of Aug. 16 after a woman found a small child playing in the dirt near the Magnum XL-200 roller coaster.

The woman told police she walked with the girl to another ride nearby, the Corkscrew, where she found a second small child who had been left alone in a wagon. She then reportedly waited 20 minutes before their father showed up.

While being questioned by police, the 36-year-old father admitted to leaving his 8-year-old daughter to watch over her young siblings, ages 2 and 4, while he went on rides with his 9-year-old daughter.

The dad told police that after he arrived at the park with his kids around 1:30 p.m., he immediately rode the Gatekeeper with his oldest daughter while the other three waited for them near the exit, according to an incident report obtained by Law&Crime .

It was a move he apparently pulled several times, as police noted the children were "left unattended multiple different times throughout the day." According to the report, the father admitted to riding three rides without his younger children, "but one of the rides he rode twice."

Because the father is the children's sole guardian, "a judge was contacted on the spot and the father was released on his own recognizance with a summons," Law&Crime reported. He's charged with endangering children, a misdemeanor. The case was also reported to child and family services.

While the children were not injured, police noted that the father's failure to provide supervision resulted in "causing a substantial risk of harm to the children."