NY Dad Whose 1-Year-Old Twin Babies Died In Hot Car Gets No Jail Time

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Photo Credit: Tomas E. Gaston

BRONX, NY — A Rockland County man has been sentenced to a one-year Conditional Discharge after pleading guilty to second-degree Reckless Endangerment charges in the deaths of his one-year-old twins.

District Attorney Darcel Clark said, “The defendant, Juan Rodriguez, left his one-year-old twins in the backseat of his car for hours while he went to work. The children were strapped in their car seats throughout the hot summer day, with no windows open. These babies suffered horribly and we owed them a thorough investigation. This was a tragic, unfortunate incident. I hope that as the sweltering weather is upon us, caregivers will be extra vigilant about children in vehicles.”

District Attorney Clark said the defendant, Juan Rodriguez, 39, of New City, Rockland County, N.Y., pleaded guilty today to two counts of second-degree Reckless Endangerment, a misdemeanor, before Bronx Criminal Court Judge Jeffrey Rosenblueth via video. Judge Rosenblueth sentenced the defendant to a one-year Conditional Discharge.

According to the investigation, on the morning of July 26, 2019, Rodriguez drove to 130 West Kingsbridge Road, while his one-year-old twins, Luna Rodriguez and Phoenix Rodriguez, sat in their car seats in the backseat row of his Honda sedan. The defendant arrived to his job at the James J. Peters Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center at 8:22 A.M. and left work at 4:02 P.M., leaving his twins in the car unattended for approximately eight hours.

After driving for two blocks, Rodriguez discovered his two children unresponsive in the backseat. The defendant called his wife, then called 911. First responders declared the twins dead at the scene.

Rodriguez told responding cops he dropped off his 4-year-old son at daycare but forgot that his twins were in their rear-facing car seats.

According to the investigation, the temperature inside the vehicle where the twins were left in reached up to more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit. According to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, the twins died of hyperthermia. The body temperature of both children was recorded at 108 degrees Fahrenheit.

“For the rest of his life, he will be scarred by what happened here,” defense attorney Joey Jackson told reporters. “He will feel really badly by what has occurred here. So I don’t think today is any vindication for him. He lost his precious beautiful children. But I think he is also relieved that he doesn’t have go through this process and face countless years in jail.”

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