Father leaves boy in car outside adult club

Thursday, July 25, 2002 | 11:05 a.m.

A man on vacation from New Mexico left his 4-year-old son alone in a car outside a Las Vegas strip club Wednesday while he watched dancers inside, Metro Police said.

Police arrested Reyes Franco, 32, on a charge of child endangerment, a gross misdemeanor, and booked at the Clark County Detention Center. Franco was being held this morning on $1,000 bail.

Franco entered Crazy Horse Too shortly after 8 a.m. and was in the club for about 20 minutes, Metro Police spokesman Sgt. Rick Barela said. The boy was left in the car with the engine running and one window lowered about an inch while the temperature outside climbed above 90 degrees. Officials said the air conditioner was on in the car.

"I think this is just disgusting, bringing your child to a club," said Greg Lioce, the Crazy Horse Too's manager.

"I mean, we're all parents here. Most of these dancers have children, and they're good mothers. They were outraged when the news spread about what happened. Thank God they found the child in time."

Two North Las Vegas detectives investigating an unrelated case saw the child alone in the car and called Metro, who arrived at the scene within minutes.

A Metro officer showed the child her badge and was able to get him out of the car and give him some water.

At that point, Franco came out of the club and was arrested.

The child was left in the care of his mother, who is also visiting Las Vegas. Identities of both were not released.

The case caused concern in the club and the community at large, coming on the heels of two fatalities in the last year under similar circumstances.

Since June 2001 the Clark County Fire Department has responded to 86 calls on children left in cars, Richard Wiseman, deputy fire chief for the county, said.

"The thing that amazes me is the number of children left in cars in this heat and this community just doesn't seem to get it," said Susan Klein Rothschild, director of the county Department of Family Services, the agency called to the scene in cases of abandonment.

The child was endangered not only by being left alone in the heat, but also by the surroundings, a neighbor said.

"Especially in this neighborhood, anything could happen, since it's pretty dangerous," said "Buffalo Jim" Barrier, who owns a car repair shop in the same building on Industrial Road.

The man was in the club long enough to order a Coke and sit by the stage to watch a strip show, Lioce said.

"To me, it's not about the dad going in to watch a stripper and leaving the kid in the car," he said. "It's about leaving the kid in the car."

Klein Rothschild agreed parents need to be more vigilant in all circumstances.

"So many things can happen in such a short time, and children are so precious," she said. "We can't afford not to be more careful."