Couple Arrested After 4 Children Left Locked Up
A San Clemente couple were arrested Friday on suspicion of child endangerment after authorities said they locked their four young children in a bedroom with no food or toilet.
Gerardo Rodriguez, 25, and Rosio Lopez, 32, apparently left their four daughters, ages 7, 5, 4 and 3, in a locked bedroom while they were both at work, said Lt. Richard Paddock of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. The family lives in the 100 block of West Canada.
The children were discovered by a neighbor at 4:30 p.m., about 90 minutes after the parents chained a bedroom door shut from the outside, Paddock said. The neighbor entered the apartment through a window after hearing a child scream that she had to go to the bathroom, Paddock said.
The parents, who were not expected to return home until 10:30 p.m., were summoned from their workplaces and taken to the Orange County Jail by sheriff’s deputies, Paddock said. The children, who were not apparently harmed or injured, were taken to the Orangewood Children’s Home, Paddock said.
The parents said they arranged for a baby sitter to care for the children, but the babysitter never showed, Paddock said.
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