Parents Arrested for Leaving Kids in Car During Wine Tasting
By February 5, 2015 0 959
•A local couple was arrested and charged with first-degree child cruelty after leaving their children alone in an unheated car while they went to a wine tasting Jan. 31.
The children are both under the age of two.
Parents Jennie Chang, 45, and Christophe Lucas, 41, went to a wine tasting at Ris, a restaurant at 2275 L St. NW in the West End neighborhood, where they were arrested.
The toddlers were alone in the car parked at the corner of 23rd and L Streets NW for about an hour in the 28-degree weather. According to the Metropolitan Police Department, a call was placed to MPD around 5:40 p.m. by a person who saw the children in the car.
The children are now in the custody of Child Protective Services.
A first-degree cruelty to children conviction can lead to ten years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine.