Police: Patchogue Man Leaves Children in Freezing Car to Shop

A Patchogue man was arrested Monday evening after police say he left his two sons in a car while he went shopping. 

Police were called to the Patchogue Village parking lot at 32 W. Main Street around 5:40 p.m. after a report that two children were unattended in a vehicle. 

Fifth Precinct officer Dennis Stewart discovered a 5-month-old and a 5-year-old in the 1999 Mazda that unlocked and not running at the time, police said.  

Witnesses said the children had been in the vehicle for about 15 minutes before police arrived. It was about 25 degrees outside at the time. 

The boys' father, Luis Lucero Fajardo, 32, was arrested when he returned to the vehicle and charged with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, police said. 

Further investigation revealed that Lucero Fajardo did not possess a driver’s license and his vehicle was suspended from being on the road because it was not insured, police said. 

Lucero Fajardo will be held overnight at the Fifth Precinct and is scheduled to be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip on Tuesday. 

Police said the Suffolk County Department of Social Services Child Protective Services Bureau would be notified of the incident.