Father charged after being found in hot car in desert with 2 children

Brian Laugeson’s children – a boy and a girl – were going in and out of consciousness when they were found by Henderson Police Department officers Monday. The temperature was 105 degrees, the arrest report states.

The rudder of a wrecked ship sits in a pile of bleached dead coral in a coral reef in Key West, Florida, on July 16, 2023. The coral reef, the largest in the continental US, is considered a barrier reef and is around 350 miles (563.27km) wide from the Dry Tortugas National Park to the St. Lucie Inlet in Martin County, Florida. (Photo by Joseph Prezioso / AFP) (Photo by JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images)

Laugeson, who is separated from the children’s mother, had custody of them for the weekend, according to the police report. He was reported missing along with the children and officers tracked his location using his cell phone.

The police report says the children, ages 3 and 4, “were naked and visibly suffering from heat-related illnesses,” with one child having a seizure. Laugeson and the children were hospitalized. A court-ordered blood test indicated that Laugeson “had ingested illegal narcotics,” the arrest report states.

He has been charged with two counts of first-degree child abuse or neglect with substantial bodily harm.

Court records do not list an attorney for Laugeson. The Clark County court docket shows he is scheduled for a pretrial custody hearing Wednesday, but Henderson Hospital did not immediately return a request for information on whether he has been released from the hospital.

At the time the police report was filed, Laugeson was unconscious, and his children remain hospitalized. CNN asked St. Rose Dominican Hospital for information on the children’s conditions Tuesday, but did not receive an immediate response.

Henderson is about 15 miles from Las Vegas.