YONKERS AND THE BRONX – (June 24, 2020) – Juan Rodriguez, guilty plea puts an end to a legal case which had dragged on and on since July 26 day when he drove to work and forgot his children were in the back seat.
The father previously said he “blanked out” when he forgot to drop the babies off at day care in Yonkers that day.
Eight hours later they were found dead in his parked car in the Bronx at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
He drove two blocks before seeing the children unresponsive in the back seat.
Juan Rodriguez called his wife and then 911.
Almost 11 months after Juan Rodriguez forgot his 1-year-old twins in a car when he went to work in the Bronx, he pleaded guilty and will avoid prison time.
The Bronx District Attorney said the Rockland County man was sentenced to one year of conditional discharge after the guilty plea to second-degree reckless endangerment.
Juan Rodriguez was potentially facing manslaughter charges.
The father had been out on bail since his twins’ deaths.
Juan Rodriguez said he forgot the babies in his car when he went to work on July 26; when he came back eight hours later, both were dead from the extreme heat.
Juan Rodriguez admitted to parking his car in his employment lot and leaving young Luna and Phoenix were inside.
Bronx DA Darcel Clark said that the children were strapped in their car seats throughout the hot summer day, with no windows open.
These two babies suffered horribly.
Investigators said temperature inside the car, which was left in the hot sun from just after 8 a.m. until 4 p.m., reached more than 100 degrees, the investigation revealed.
The medical examiner said that the body temperature of both children was 108 degrees.
The father, who has three other children, including a 4-year-old boy, was “extremely transparent” about what happened, his attorney previously said.
Juan Rodriguez’s lawyer told the court that his client’s wife had backed him every step of the way and feels that her husband just made a terrible and mistake.
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