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DALLAS -- Police arrested Francisco Lopez, 34, in a Dallas bar after they say he left his five children in a van with rolled-up windows while he drank.
At 3:37 a.m. Sunday, police received a call from an off-duty officer at the Sonrisas #2 Taqueria Y Bar in the 2900 block of Samuell Blvd. The caller said a security guard spotted the five children sleeping in the back of the brown Chevy van. There was a eight-year-old, a seven-year-old, a three-year-old, a two-year-old, and a nine-month-old in the vehicle.
According to the arrest affidavit, when officers arrived to the bar, they found the van's windows rolled up with outdoor temperatures over 80 degrees. The youngest children were wearing badly-soiled diapers, and officers noted broken glass and other sharp objects inside the van, along with three full beer cans. Lopez had been inside drinking for at least 30 minutes.
The five children were unharmed.
In the bar, Lopez told officers his wife had just had a baby and was in the hospital. Officers made contact with the children's mother and grandmother, and took the kids to the grandmother's home. She later told police Lopez was supposed to have dropped off the children at her home earlier that night, but he never showed up and didn't call.
The security guard told police he had warned Lopez before not to bring his children to the bar.
He was taken to Lew Sterrett Jail and booked on five charges of child endangerment. He is being held on a total of $50,000 bond.
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