Aug 1, 2008 1:08 pm US/Central
Trial Date Set For Dad Accused Of Caging Daughters
MARKHAM, Ill. (STNG) ―
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Two young girls were kept in this cage in the back of their father's pickup truck.
CBS
A Sept. 3 trial date was scheduled Thursday for a 35-year-old south suburban Midlothian man charged with misdemeanor child endangerment for caging his two young daughters in his pickup truck.
Ricardo Gonzalez was charged about a month ago with keeping his daughters, ages 2 and 5, in a cage in the back of his 1995 Chevrolet S10 truck while he drove around as a scrap hauler. Police said Gonzalez told them he encaged the girls while he worked because he didn't have a babysitter.
Gonzalez was arrested at a Posen gas station after a bystander heard the girls' cries and called police on June 30.
Gonzalez, of the 3600 block of 153rd Street in Midlothian, was charged with two counts of misdemeanor child endangerment, and police impounded the truck. Police said they were working with Cook County prosecutors about possibly upgrading to felony charges.
Police said Gonzalez told them he constructed the cage to restrain his daughters while he worked because he didn't have a babysitter.
The truck's back window is covered with a large plywood board. Two black-tinted windows hide the interior, where Gonzalez had bolted and welded the cage to the frame of the truck and taped and tied it together.
The only exit from the cage is small space between the two front seats, which was fashioned with chain-link fencing that was closed with a padlock.
"I wouldn't put my dog in that," Cpl. William Alexander said as he looked over the truck at the Fair Towing lot in Posen.
Inside the cage, a child's safety seat sat unrestrained. The rear seats were covered with pink fleece blankets.
-- Southtown Star
(Source: Sun-Times News Group Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2009. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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