Children found alone at Portage hotel; dad charged with neglect, police say | Crime and Courts

“(The oldest child) advised she last saw her dad ‘around lunch’ but could not give an exact time or the location he was going to,” police said of their initial encounter with the children around 8:30 p.m. Friday at the Portage Inn, 6142 U.S. 20.

The father, later identified as Michael Gleim, was placed under arrest and faces four felony counts of neglect of a dependent, according to the incident report.

Police said they were notified of four children under the age of eight left alone at the hotel and seen running around unsupervised for three to four hours.

The oldest child reportedly told officers their mother abandoned them and they had been at the hotel for one night with their dad. The girl said she had given all her siblings and herself two of the melatonin gummies, though police noted the suggested dose is just one gummy for ages four and older.

Police said they found the smoke detector in the room unplugged and the batteries removed. They also found condoms in a nightstand drawer.

A hotel employee told police the children had been locked out of their room at one point while it was raining. Another person reported seeing the children running barefoot on the upper balcony.

Gleim arrived while police were at the hotel and said he had only left the hotel a short time earlier to pick up medicine from his brother’s house in Griffith, police said. He claimed to have slipped in the rain, struck his head and blacked out.

The children were released into the care of their grandparents, according to police.