Dad Leaves 4 Kids Trapped in Hot Car While He Shops at Adult Store

Hi. Where's mom or dad? Do you know. where your guys's family is? Do you want some water? Water feel good? Here, lock your. fingers. You're under arrest. Arizona father Ascencio Largo left his. four children locked inside a sweltering.

hot car while he visited a sex shop. Police say the outside temperatures were. around 110°. and inside that car, it soared to a. life-threatening 125°. The rescue was harrowing. The judge. [music] was stunned. But the sentence, the sentence that this guy ultimately. received, [music] you are not going to. believe it. We are going to break down. the disturbing details of this case with. an Arizona criminal defense attorney and. former prosecutor. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law & Crime. I'm Jesse.

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adult sex toy store. That's the. allegation. Police say the kids, all. under the age of 10, were trapped for. nearly an hour in triple-digit heat, windows up, engine off. The body cam. that we're going to show you shows the. moment officers rushed in to save them, handing out water, pulling these kids. from a car that they say hit 125°. inside. Hi. Where's mom or dad? Do you know where your guys's family is?

Do you want some water? Water feel good? There's four. There's one in that one. Here, lock your fingers. You're under arrest. And in court, the judge called it out.

pretty clearly. I It's difficult to say. that anybody who grew up in Arizona. doesn't know that that children and dogs. die in closed cars. What the police are. alleging. could have resulted in an in 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. And it did. get picked up. This story made national. headlines. And we are going to take you.

inside the disturbing alleged details, right? The claims, the dramatic rescue. that was caught on camera, the shocking. sentence this father actually received. So, here is how all of this went down. Back on July 24th at around 3:40 p.m., Phoenix police get this call about. something that immediately raised. alarms. Four young children left alone. in a car in the middle of the afternoon. And the location, near 24th Street and. Madison in Phoenix, Arizona. And right. near the address of the adult shop, a.

local adult store that specializes in. X-rated products and entertainment for. adults. When officers arrived, they. found the car locked, the engine off, and the windows rolled up. The. temperatures were scorching outside, but. inside the car, this was, and I'm not. There's no other way to say it. This is. a life-threatening situation for anyone, let alone kids under 10. These children, ages 7, 4, 3, and 2, they were trapped. inside for over an hour. Someone had.

spotted the car, realized just how. dangerous this was, made a 911 phone. call that ultimately got the police. involved, thankfully. And once officers. got there, they began the painstaking. process of trying to find out who was. responsible. Well, from court documents. that were reviewed by KPHO, it wasn't. just that the car was hot. The kids were. showing signs of real distress. Their. skin was red. They were sweating. heavily. Their body temperatures were. approaching dangerous levels. And. officers noted that even once the doors.

were open and the kids were out of the. vehicle, their internal temperatures. were near 100° Fahrenheit. Police eventually tracked down the. father, 38-year-old Ascencio Largo, and. he was arrested on site. Now, there are. still more that we got to get into, the. charges, the courtroom drama, why this. case ended up making national headlines. So, I want to bring in Arizona criminal. defense attorney and former federal and. state prosecutor Kurt Altman. Kurt, thanks so much for. for coming on. This is a pattern that we're seeing.

unfortunately way too much. But from a. legal point of view, how does law. enforcement determine when a situation. like this rises to criminal child. endangerment versus. a temporary lapse in judgment? I. Not I mean, not excusing it, but a crime. versus not a crime. Uh you know, Jesse, I mean, that's kind of a judgment call, but it's pretty pretty common here in. Arizona that if you leave a child, no. matter what age, in the car, that's. criminal negligence at best, probably.

criminal recklessness and child abuse. And that's what the police determined. here. I mean, it was July, right? So, it. I don't know the exact temperature that. day, but there is no doubt in my mind it. was over 100° outside, probably 105. plus. So, that car got hot very, very. fast. It It's It's It's just a tragic. uh situation all around. It's. unbelievable. Have you seen cases like. this where you have multiple children. inside the car, right? Cuz there's. there's cases before where you see a.

baby left in the backseat, a young baby. You might have a parent says, "I You. know, my my I totally forgot. I didn't. realize the baby was quiet or sleeping.". But to have all the children in there, locked up? I mean, and and and with. officers as witnesses? Uh no. I'd Thank goodness, I guess I've. never seen a case with multiple children. left in the car of different ages. But I. have seen cases. where children that are a little bit. older, you know, 6, 7, 8 years old are.

left in cars. uh while their parents are doing. something. And that almost makes it rise. to a more criminal type event because. that parent has to tell that child, "Hey, don't leave the car." Or the child. has to be afraid to to leave the car. because they might get in trouble or. something. It's almost different than a. baby. I don't know if it makes it worse, but it's it's certainly a different. situation and uh. just abominable. I I want to start with what made this. situation even more dangerous than. beyond the heat because first, court.

records, as reported by KPHO, showed. just how disconnected Largo was from. reality that afternoon. Employees at. this adult store apparently made several. announcements about the kids inside the. car, but nobody apparently came forward. to claim it. And eventually, Largo. stepped out the back door. And when. officers asked if that car was his, he first shook his head no. It was only. after seeing law enforcement and fire. trucks surrounding the car did he.

mutter, "Oh, yes." This is according to. KPHO. During his arrest, he told officers he. was just in the store to quote, "Get. some supplies." Though police say. alcohol was definitely involved here. And as a matter of fact, authorities. discovered that Largo had an ignition. interlock restriction on his license, meaning he wasn't supposed to be driving. without a device that prevents operation. while intoxicated. And when officers. found him in this sex shop, they said. they could smell alcohol on it.

And then there's the car itself. According to court documents that were. obtained by Fox 10, quote, "It should. also be noted that the vehicle was only. equipped with one booster seat and no. car seats for the children. There were. four children located in and around the. vehicle, and there were only three rear. seats located within the vehicle. The. defendant also has the odor of alcohol. coming from his person, and his driver's. license has an ignition interlock." So, even without the heat, these kids, Kurt, were in an unsafe condition. Ag- Again,

uh how does a prosecutor uh interpret. this? How does a prosecutor interpret. what Largo was saying and doing and. uh and the actions he took? Well, Jesse, there's all kinds of stuff. to break down right there. First of all, what strikes me is, yeah, uh Mr. Largo. was was out of it, smelled like the odor. of alcohol, um obviously had been. drinking. But his first reaction when he. sees police is to deny it's his car. So, he's trying to protect himself there. So, that shows a little bit, at least to. me as the prosecutor, that he knows.

what's going on, and he immediately. knows what he did was wrong. Um but. before that, like you said, he had an. interlock requirement. That means he has. a uh previous conviction for DUI. He. doesn't have the interlock on the car, which is what he's supposed to drive. with. In other words, the car won't. start if he's been drinking. And he's. drinking and has four children. [clears throat] in the car. So, absent. the heat, just if forget there there. there any heat out there, Um, he's. committing numerous endangerment type. crimes and endangering those children.

just by his actions of driving while. obviously drinking. Uh, so it was a bad. day for him and bad decisions all around. and frankly, he's the luckiest dad in. the world that those kids are okay. And to be clear, he would have been in trouble even if he. hadn't left them in the car. Like if an. officer stopped him, smelled the alcohol. in his breath, saw the ignition uh. device issue. Uh, the vehicle only had one booster. seat, no car seats for the four kids. He. would have already been in trouble if he.

was stopped. 100% 100% that's those are felony. accounts. Those are endangerment. Those. kids were all under 15 years old. He's. clearly drinking and driving without an. interlock. Yeah, he he'd have been in. trouble. Now, once the children were rescued, the. Department of Child Safety, they stepped. in to ensure that they were safe, to. ensure that they were protected. The. kids were taken to a hospital to be. evaluated for heat-related issues and. thankfully, they are okay. But the. combination of extreme heat [snorts] and. insufficient car safety measures and.

alcohol involvement, it painted a very. clear picture of child endangerment. The. body cam footage captured the moment. that officers arrived and immediately. assessed the children's condition. The. sweat, the red skin, the fear, the heat, the rush to get them out safely. Hi. Where's mom or dad? Do you know where your guys's family is? No. Do you want some water?

Water feel good? We're going to be clearing kids out of. the car. There's four. There's one in. that one. Interlock your fingers. You're under arrest. Kurt, I want to go back to you. So, what. are the immediate steps, legal steps, the protective steps that authorities. have to take, sometimes simultaneously, when children are found in these.

life-threatening conditions like this? Well, exactly what happened here, Jesse. The police will obviously take care of. the scene. They arrested Mr. Largo. They. took care of the kids. They called fire, but then they also called Child. Protective Services who has the ability. to remove those kids and put them in. foster care or somewhere. on an emergency basis until stuff gets. sorted out. What they'll do is they'll. look for a family members, responsible. family members to come find those. children and take care of those.

children. But that's not often the case. or that's not always the case, I should. say. And when it's not, they will take. those kids into protective custody and. the process will start. He will have to. fight to get them back if that's what he. wants. Uh, and they will find safe places for. those kids to be cared for and raised if. that's what it it turns out to be. And. it And as difficult as this body cam. footage is to watch, it is such an. important piece of evidence, right? Oh, yeah. Very important piece of.

evidence. I mean, that shows you don't. often see that, right? You'll have body. cam from police officers. showing up after something's been. taken place, but it's rare or or at. least more rare to see. the police actually in in action, right? They saved these kids. It's on camera. Anybody that saw that, if that this case. went to a trial and a jury. uh that saw that would be would just be. taken back because this is not something. most people deal with every day. So,

that evidence was important and very. damning. Now, at the time of his arrest, Largo. was booked on eight felony counts of. child abuse and endangerment, all class. four felonies, our understanding. And. during his first court appearance, the. judge really didn't hold back. Pointed. out both the severity of the situation, how the charges could have been even. more severe, higher, saying, quote, "In. your case, I was actually surprised that. the police booked these as a class four. felony instead of the higher class of. felony. You could have exited that store. to a car full of your dead children,

which is rather shocking." And the judge. described the scene that was both. alarming and preventable, a scenario so. shocking that as we mentioned before, it. quickly drew attention beyond Phoenix. Here's how it was laid out in court. The. fact scenario as alleged by the police. is. is is rather shocking. Um, the police. alleged that they went into the store, called that many times, nobody came out. And they alleged that when you came out, you attempted to pretend like it wasn't. your car. Um,

it just it indicates a a strong level of. of reckless culpability of of knowing. it's difficult to say that anybody who. grew up in Arizona doesn't know that. that children and dogs die in closed. cars. But the police are alleging. could have resulted in an in 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. Yeah,

Kurt, the judge mentioned that this. could have been a story picked up across. the world. Does public outrage, does. media coverage, does that influence how. judges might sentence someone? Or or it. really shouldn't, but when you're. talking about this kind of case, do you. think it has any effect? Well, I mean, judges are human, right? Prosecutors are human and public outrage. and media coverage certainly. uh affects human beings. But the.

prosecutors and the judges here have to. put that aside and they generally are. able to do that and follow the law. That's what That's what they're sworn in. to do and that's what they do. Um, but. that doesn't mean that a judge can't. comment like this judge did on the. severity of the charges and how. absolutely ridiculous it is. for an adult human father to do. something like this. It's It's. outrageous and he's right that.

the charges could have been more severe. And when I said earlier that this is the. luckiest father on the face of the. planet, I mean it because 10 more. minutes, 5 more minutes, 20 more. minutes, who knows? Those children could. have all perished and he would have been. in prison for the rest of his life. without a doubt. I want to talk about this sentence in a. second. We'll get to that. Before we do, could. legally, could his actions have resulted. in higher level felony charge felony.

charges? What would those have looked. like? Yeah, I think so. I mean, they would. have been a little bit tougher, but. Arizona has class two child abuse. felony offenses, class two being a much. higher class felony, worse class felony. than a class four. And those are often. called dangerous crimes against. children. If the children are under 15. years of age like they were in this. case, there could be mandatory. significant prison sentences that. accompany that. Somebody in the.

prosecutor's office looked at this and. decided, based on all the facts, which. we don't know all the facts, all the. potential mitigation that this defendant. may have had like mental health or. substance abuse issues that were undealt. with. I don't know if that's the case, but and decided to to charge the lower. level felonies. uh because they thought it was the most. appropriate and just thing to do in this. case. But yes, I know people that probably would have. charged a much higher felony and gone. after this guy a lot harder.

And with that in mind, let's talk about. what happened, okay? Because after all. that chaos, what were the consequences? I want everybody to pre- prepare. themselves, okay? The father who left. his four kids essentially baking in a. 125°. car for nearly an hour while he went. into a sex shop, was sentenced to just. four months in jail. Four months. On top of that, he got 10 years of. probation. This sentence is shocking,

Kurt. I I don't understand it. Can you. explain it to me? Well, again, I don't know what was. presented at. sentencing in in the forms of mitigation. for the defendant. As a defense. attorney, if my defense attorney hat is. on and I'm representing this guy, what. I'm doing is I'm presenting his life. story. I'm presenting his substance. abuse issues, that the problems that. he's had and that not that he's not. responsible for this, but there's. mitigation for it. And maybe that's what. happened. Um, also, it sounds like with. a probationary deal with 4 months jail,

uh it sounds like these were his first. felony convictions. So, the law the law. allows for probation in a situation like. that. Doesn't necessarily have to be a. prison sentence. I will tell you though, what people don't think when they hear. probation is 10 years probation. Not. that probation would be that difficult. You basically have to obey the law and. talk to your probation officer. But. somebody like this, it could be very difficult. They go out.

drinking again, the father goes out. drinking when he gets out of jail to. celebrate, drives without his interlock again, that. probation can be revoked and then he's. looking at a significant amount of. prison time on that. So, the judge has. given him a chance. But what message does this send? What. does it send about child safety and. accountability? Well, I mean, I think the message that. it sends has to be determined by the. viewer, right? Um, I I I think there's there's a healthy. debate out there. about whether this sentence is. appropriate or not. There's going to be.

a lot of people because it's so. outrageous, because there are children. that think this sentence is just out of. line, too lenient. But the sentence is. within the law. The sentence is within uh the parameters. that are set for these types of. felonies, class four felonies. And based. on sentencing factors, the judge. determined that this was best at this. point. And the part last part of the. plea deal, too, Jesse, you know, how the. prosecutors deal with the case.

When he gets out, does he get his kids. back? Mhm. I mean, he can try. Uh DC that'll. be a civil issue like we talked about. with DCS or the Department of Child. Safety. Uh I imagine that they will try to to um. go after his parental rights in. something like this. Because when this. happens, Jesse, as you know, it's probably not the first time mistake. uh in someone like this. So, getting his. kids back is probably going to be a long. haul for him and he's going to have to.

show some significant significant. improvement before that happens in a. situation like this. And that's probably. the right thing. Kurt Altman, thanks so much for taking. the time. Appreciate it. Thank you, Jesse. And that's all we have for you. right now here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us. And as. always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, wherever you get. your podcast. You can follow me on X or. Instagram. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak. to you next time.