Dad Abandons 6-Year-Old For Pokémon Line

Photo: Rob Wilson / Shutterstock

A South Carolina father left his sleeping 6-year-old daughter alone on a dark sidewalk after midnight just so he could keep his spot in a line for trading cards.

Story Snapshot

Charleston police say a man left his 6-year-old daughter unattended outside a Target early November 6, 2026.
Witnesses say he gave her a pillow and blanket before walking away for about an hour.
Police say he admitted leaving her so he wouldn’t lose his place in a Pokémon card line.
He now faces a charge of unlawful conduct toward a child, and his daughter was placed in emergency protective custody.

What Police Say Happened Outside the Target

Charleston police responded around 2:30 a.m. on November 6 to the West Ashley Target on Sam Rittenberg Boulevard after someone called in an unattended child. Officers found the man’s 6-year-old daughter alone outside the store, with no adult watching over her. Customers had been camping out overnight for the release of a new Pokémon trading card set.

Witnesses told police the father, identified as Dooley, settled his daughter into the line sometime after 1 a.m. He reportedly gave her a pillow and a blanket so she could sleep, then left her there by herself for roughly an hour. When he came back, the same witnesses pointed him out to responding officers.

The Admission That Sealed the Charge

Police say Dooley told officers he had gone home during that hour. He admitted he left his daughter behind specifically to hold his place in line, so he wouldn’t miss his chance to buy the new Pokémon cards. That statement, paired with witness accounts, led officers to arrest him and charge him with one count of unlawful conduct toward a child.

An arrest is an allegation, not a conviction, and the case will still need to work through the courts. But the facts police have laid out are straightforward: a grown man chose a cardboard box of collectible cards over staying with his sleeping child in the middle of the night. No parent should need a law degree to understand why that’s wrong.

Child Placed in State Custody After Arrest

Following Dooley’s arrest, police say his daughter was placed in emergency protective custody with the South Carolina Department of Social Services. That step shows authorities treated the situation as serious enough to pull the child out of her father’s care, at least temporarily, while the case moves forward. It’s a reminder that child welfare agencies step in fast when officers flag a kid left alone at night.

This case lands at a time when conservative parents already feel like basic standards of responsibility are slipping. Leaving a 6-year-old alone outside a retail store before sunrise isn’t a judgment call about independence or free-range parenting. It’s abandonment, plain and simple, and Charleston police treated it that way from the moment they arrived.

Collectible Card Releases Keep Fueling Chaos

This isn’t the first time a Pokémon card release has turned into a public spectacle. Overnight lines for the brand’s 30th-anniversary celebration set have already led to reported scuffles and tense standoffs at Target stores in other states, as collectors and resellers jockey for limited stock. The demand for these cards, driven partly by resale value, has created exactly the kind of high-pressure environment where a parent might make a reckless choice to protect a spot in line.

Child welfare researchers note that lack of supervision is already one of the most common reasons families end up in neglect investigations nationwide. This case fits that pattern exactly, except with an added twist that’s hard to ignore: a man risked his daughter’s safety for a stack of trading cards instead of staying by her side.

What Comes Next for the Family

The charge against Dooley will now proceed through South Carolina’s court system, where prosecutors will need to show the legal elements of unlawful conduct toward a child. Meanwhile, his daughter remains under the state’s protective oversight as officials sort out what’s best for her going forward. Charleston police have not released additional details beyond the arrest and the charge itself.

For families watching this story unfold, the lesson is simple and old-fashioned: no collectible, no sale, and no line is worth leaving a child alone in the dark. Police and child welfare workers stepped in because someone failed to put their kid first. That’s a standard most Americans still believe in, no matter what’s selling out at the store.