An Arizona dad is facing multiple charges after allegedly leaving his kids locked in his car. Ascencio Largo reportedly left his four children under the age of 10 alone in his car without leaving the car on or even putting the windows down. A Good Samaritan spotted the car, sending emergency help for the little ones. All the while, their father was inside a porn store. Thankfully, the children survived and will be fine, but their father faces felony charges for leaving them alone.
About 3:40 p.m. July 24, 2025, officers from the Phoenix Police Department responded to a 911 call from a concerned person about children being in a car left in a parking lot.
Police shared details in a news release, writing, “When officers arrived, they located the car and the four children associated with it. The car was turned off and the windows were rolled up. Officers recognized the danger this posed to the children and immediately gained access to the vehicle.”
“The call that all officers hate to get; multiple children left in a car unattended, car’s not on, doors locked,” Phoenix Police Sgt. Rob Scherer told Fox 10 Phoenix. “They got all the kids out immediately, gave them water. There were signs of distress, you know, color discoloration, you know, skin bright red, sweating. Clearly, the heat was affecting the children.”
When police took the car’s internal temperature, it was found to be 125 degrees Farenheit. The children, 2, 3, 4, and 7 years old, were taken to a hospital for treatment. When they were rescued, their body temperatures were around 100 degrees. According to the police, all are expected to be fine.
Once the children were cared for, police set out to find the adult who left them alone. They went into The Adult Shoppe, a nearby adult store. According to court records, shared by AZ Family, police asked several times for the owner of the car to step forward. When they asked Largo if the car and children were his, he allegedly said no. But when he got outside and saw the police around his car, he reportedly said, “Oh s—.”
Police also claim they smelled alcohol on his breath, per AZ Family. Largo claimed he was only in the store to “get some supplies,” but he was allegedly inside for almost an hour when authorities arrived. He was arrested.
“The police allege that they went into the store, called out many times. Nobody came out. And they allege that when you came out, you attempted to pretend like it wasn’t your car. It just indicates a strong level of reckless culpability of knowing. It’s difficult to say that anybody who grew up in Arizona doesn’t know that children and dogs die in closed cars,” Maricopa County Commissioner Jane McLaughlin said during Largo’s court appearance, per Fox 10.
“You are presumed innocent, but what the police are alleging could have resulted in, you know, the kind of story that gets picked up on international news wires. Man goes into porno store leaving his four children to die in their car,” McLaughlin continued.
Largo has been charged with eight counts of felony child abuse and endangerment. If he posts his $5,000 bail, he isn’t allowed to be in contact with his children. Currently, they are in the care of their mother, who was at work at the time of the incident.
