Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark says a Rockland County father has pleaded guilty in the hot car deaths of his 1-year-old twins.
Juan Rodriguez, 39, pleaded guilty to second-degree reckless endangerment in their 2019 deaths. The New City man was sentenced to a one-year conditional discharge.
Rodriguez left the children, Luna and Phoenix, in his car for hours on a hot summer day when he went to work in the Bronx. Rodriguez had dropped off his 4-year-old son at day care that day but said he forgot his twins were in the back seat.
"These babies suffered horribly and we owed them a thorough investigation,” Clark said in a statement. "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.”