Child found alone in car in Peoria; father arrested

PHOENIX – Police in a Phoenix suburb said early Monday they arrested a man who had left his toddler son alone in a car.

A spokesman for Peoria Police said in an email to KTAR News 92.3 FM they had received a call for a welfare check on the 1-year-old, who likely was with his father, later identified as Juan Rodriguez Gonzalez.

Officers arrived at an apartment near 107th and Olive avenues around 1 a.m. and asked after the child. A woman who said she was the boy’s mother told authorities he was his father.

Gonzalez, 31, told police he didn’t have the child found the little boy in the car. He was responsive and alert but taken to a hospital for further evaluation.

Authorities didn’t know how long he had been inside the vehicle, which didn’t have the engine running.

Gonzalez was charged with one count of child abuse and two counts of endangerment.

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