Dad locks toddler son in scorching hot car while he boozes and takes cocaine in bar (Cicero, Illinois)

I don't typically post on the cases where a parent forgot to drop off the child at daycare, and the child subsequently died of hyperthermia in the hot car. But I will post on cases involving dads like GERARDO ORUZCO, who left his two kids strapped into their car seats while he was boozing and snorting cocaine with an identified woman whom I presume was not the mother of the children involved.

So where is Mom? Can't help but wonder if this is one of those visitation deals, where Daddy didn't want the care of the kids to cut into his social life. But wouldn't leave them with Mom either.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2169465/Father-locks-toddler-sons-scorching-hot-car-boozes-takes-cocaine-bar.html

Father locks toddler sons in scorching hot car while he boozes and takes cocaine in bar

By Daily Mail Reporter
PUBLISHED: 17:43 EST, 5 July 2012 | UPDATED: 17:48 EST, 5 July 2012

Gerardo Oruzco, from Cicero, was arrested on Friday after a passer by spotted his two sons, aged three and one, in the sweltering vehicle, strapped into their car seats.

The car was parked outside a bar in the 1600 block of South Laramie, according to the Chicago Sun Times.

Mr Oruzco, 35, admitted he had been at the bar with a woman drinking and using cocaine while his sons baked in 80 degree heat.
The boys had no food or water in the car, which had all its windows rolled up, and were later treated for dehydration, the newspaper reported.

Mr Ouzco was charged with two counts of reckless conduct and endangering the life of a child.

He was held on bail of $250,000 by Judge Adam D. Bourgeois.

This is the third case in as many weeks where a father has left his kids locked in a scorching hot car, although the other cases were accidents.

Last week, Kentucky father Kenneth Robinson, 31, was arrested for leaving his two-year-old son in the back of his hot vehicle for two hours while he was at work.

He told police he forgot to drop his toddler, Brady, at day care. The little boy was rushed to hospital but survived.

Another Kentucky baby, Lincoln Lindsay, wasn't so lucky. Earlier last month, the eight-month-old died after his dad accidentally left him in the back of his vehicle for most of the day.

Since 1998, more than 500 children across the United States have died of heat stroke after being left alone in a vehicle, according to the organisation SafeKids.

The child was intentionally left alone in the car in 17 per cent of these cases.