WGRZ reported that an arrest warrant was issued for a man whose two young children were found padlocked in a room while he and the children’s mother left the kids home alone. The warrant was issued after the father, Carlos Fuqua, failed to show up in city court for a hearing on the charges. Mr. Fuqua is charged with endangering the welfare of the children.
Buffalo-based criminal defense attorney Barry Covert was asked by WGRZ to comment on the case. The full interview is available on WGRZ’s website.
About not showing up in court, Mr. Covert said that it looks bad for Mr. Fuqua. “You don’t want to start out on the foot. I’m sure his lawyer will be disappointed that he didn’t show up.”
Police heard cries for help
Mr. Fuqua and the children’s mother, Melissa Khanthvout, are accused of leaving the two children in a padlocked room in their South Buffalo home. The kids were alone and unsupervised for at least an hour. Police found them calling for help out the window of the locked room and crying. According to the police incident report, when police officers got the house, they heard the children calling from the upstairs room, “Help us. We can’t get out. The door won’t open.” Officers kicked down one of the home’s doors to free the children. It has not been reported yet where the parents went while the children were alone.
Finding the father
Mr. Covert said that in order to find the father, “The police will be given the bench warrant. They may go to his home. They may go to places they know he attends or frequents. They may call his neighbors or family and try to have him picked up.”
The children’s mother is scheduled to go to court at a later date.
WGRZ noted that Mr. Fuqua has posted on his Facebook page the he loves his children and that the police are blowing the incident out of proportion.
In a later report, WGRZ updated viewers that Mr. Fuqua was back in court the day after he missed his initial hearing. The arrest warrant was dismissed after he told the judge he was in a different hearing in family court.
About Barry Covert
A senior partner in Lipsitz Green’s Criminal Defense Trials and Appeals Practice Area, Mr. Covert aggressively represents clients in the areas of New York State and federal criminal trials and appeals; constitutional law, including the First and Second Amendments, civil rights actions, and the federal False Claims Act; defending against allegations of scientific misconduct and fraud, research misconduct and fraud, plagiarism, and fabrication of evidence; and professional licensing defense.
