The overnight discovery outside Target
Updated Nov. 7, 2026, at 11:30 p.m. Central / Nov. 8, 5:30 a.m. UTC.
A South Carolina father was arrested and charged with a felony after police said he abandoned his sleeping 6-year-old daughter on a sidewalk outside a Target store overnight to secure a place in line for a new Pokémon trading card release.
Officers with the Charleston Police Department responded to the Target on Sam Rittenberg Boulevard in the West Ashley neighborhood around 2:30 a.m. on Friday, November 6, according to department records. A crowd of customers had gathered outside overnight ahead of the high-demand morning release of the Pokémon Trading Card Game set Mega Evolution—Delta Reign.
Witnesses waiting in the queue told officers that 35-year-old John-Michael Dooley of Johns Island had set down a pillow and a blanket on the concrete, instructed the young girl to lie down, and then departed the shopping center entirely, leaving her unattended in the dark as temperatures fell.
Investigation and criminal charges
According to Charleston police arrest affidavits, customers in line watched the girl for roughly an hour, expecting an adult to return shortly. When no guardian reappeared, alarmed bystanders dialed 911.
Charleston police units arrived on scene at approximately 2:30 a.m. and located the 6-year-old asleep on the pavement. Shortly before 3 a.m., Dooley walked back toward the queue and was immediately identified by multiple witnesses, WLTX News 19 reported.
Investigators said Dooley admitted during initial questioning that he had driven back home to rest while relying on his sleeping child to hold his place at the front of the line, TMZ reported. Police took Dooley into custody on the spot. He was booked into the Sheriff Al Cannon Detention Center in North Charleston and charged with unlawful conduct toward a child, a felony carrying up to 10 years in prison under South Carolina law.
Authorities confirmed the child was physically unharmed. Emergency personnel evaluated her at the scene, and caseworkers with the South Carolina Department of Social Services took emergency protective custody of the girl while family court proceedings began.
