November 4, 2015
LOS ANGELES (AFP) - An American man was arrested for leaving his five-year-old granddaughter in the Arizona desert with a loaded gun while he went off to have a hamburger, authorities said Tuesday.
The child's family reported her missing four hours after Paul Rater, 53, left his home Sunday night in the town of Buckeye.
Authorities launched a search operation and relatives ended up finding the girl in a desert area with a loaded pistol, said a statement from the sheriff's office in Maricopa County.
Rater acknowledged having abandoned the girl so he could go off for drinks and a hamburger.
Rater was jailed Monday on charges of abusing and abandoning a child.
