Man spends night with minor girl after hotel gives him keys to wrong room

Missouri: 46-year-old Daniel Hughes is suing the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Missouri for giving him wrong keys to his room because of which he ended up in a 9-year-old girl’s room and eventually spent the night there as he was allegedly under the influence of alcohol. The unfortunate episode also caused him to lose his highly paid job, according to a report in the Independent.

Following the incident, Huges was taken to court by the child’s parents on allegations of child abuse.

However, prosecutors were unable to prove he had touched the girl and the jury cleared him.

Although the case took place in 2011, Hughes settled a lawsuit filed by the girl's parents for $50,000 in 2014 and filed the new lawsuit against the hotel two weeks ago.

Huges’ lawsuit against the Ritz-Carlton claims that the staff handed him the key without checking his identification, which led to him getting into bed with the child.

His lawsuit against the hotel, and its owners Maritz, Wolff and Co, claims that the hotel staff failed to conduct "any reasonable and customary key-security precautions that are standard within the hotel industry, and particularly within the luxury hotel market to which the Ritz Carlton belongs".

At the time of the incident in 2011 Huges was staying at the Ritz Carlton for a business conference and later that night he allegedly consumed 13 drinks after which he returned to his room to retire for the night.

It was then that he confused his hotel room numbers and tried his key on the wrong door. Under the influence of alcohol, Huges believed that his key was not working. He returned to the hotel reception where staff gave him a key to the room he said was his - but which in fact had a nine-year-old girl sleeping inside. He then got into bed with the child.