Left: Ascencio Largo (KPHO/YouTube). Right: Largo’s children after police reportedly found them inside a vehicle while he visited an adult store in Arizona (Phoenix Police Department).
An Arizona father faces charges after allegedly leaving his four children unattended in a sweltering car, reaching temperatures of up to 124 degrees, while he visited an adult store.
The Phoenix Police Department arrived around 3:40 p.m. on Thursday at the parking lot of The Adult Shoppe, located near 24th and Madison streets, following a report of four children left inside a car that was turned off and had its windows sealed. Officers rescued the children, provided them with water, and placed them in an air-conditioned patrol vehicle.
“Where’s mom or dad?” an officer asked as they were rescuing the kids, according to body camera video released by the police department.
“Do you know where your guys’ family is?” another officer is heard saying.
The car was at least 124 degrees and the kids — all reportedly under age 10 — were visibly suffering from heat-related issues, according to local CBS affiliate KPHO.
Officers located the children’s father, 38-year-old Ascencio Largo, inside the store where he had been for nearly an hour, per cops. He’s now facing child abuse charges.
A judge laid into him after hearing about the allegations and said he could be facing harsher charges, KPHO reported.
“You could have exited that store to a car full of your dead children which is rather shocking,” the judge said.
The judge also noted that Largo did not respond to officers when they went inside the store and then allegedly pretended that it wasn’t his car when he came outside.
“It indicates a strong level of reckless culpability,” the judge said, who added that Largo is lucky the situation did not have a tragic outcome.
“You are presumed innocent, but what the police are alleging could have resulted in, you know, the kind of story that gets picked up on international news wires: Man goes into porno store leaving his four children to die in their car,” the judge reportedly stated.
Largo remains in the Maricopa County Jail on a $5,000 bond. His next court date is scheduled for Thursday.
