The man previously pleaded guilty in a case that began after police found six children, two locked in a kennel, inside a small apartment.
LAS VEGAS, Nev. — A Las Vegas father who admitted to severely abusing his children, including locking two inside a dog cage, told a Clark County judge this week that the prison sentence tied to his plea agreement is “too harsh,” asking the court for a lower term during a hearing in downtown Las Vegas.
The case drew widespread attention after officers rescued the children in June 2023. Prosecutors say the father’s guilty plea last year resolved multiple counts of child abuse and neglect and set a broad prison range for the judge to impose. At Tuesday’s hearing, the man said the years proposed would keep him from seeing his children grow up. The court took the request under advisement while leaving the existing plea structure intact. The case remains in the sentencing phase, with a formal decision to come at a later date.
Police were first called on June 11, 2023, after a woman ran to a Walgreens and told a clerk she feared for her life and that children had been beaten at a nearby apartment, according to court records summarized in open court. Officers detained the man outside the store and then entered the home near Valley View Boulevard and Flamingo Road. Inside, they found six children under 12. Two were confined in a kennel secured with a lock, and one boy was so malnourished and bruised that he struggled to stand, investigators said. Body-camera footage later released by authorities showed cramped rooms and scant food. “This case still keeps me up at night,” a detective said in an earlier hearing, describing the moment officers opened the kennel. The father was arrested that day and later indicted by a grand jury.
Over the next year, the case moved in fits. In July 2024, a judge ruled the defendant not competent to stand trial and ordered treatment. By December, another judge accepted doctors’ findings that he was competent and allowed the case to proceed. Records show the stepmother pleaded guilty in December 2023 to child abuse and was sentenced in February 2024 to seven to 18 years in prison for failing to protect the children. The father initially set a jury trial for August 2024, but he later entered a plea in court last fall, admitting to several counts that carried an open term of years. In court this week, he told the judge that a potential term spanning decades would mean “I’ll miss their whole childhood,” and he asked for mercy. Prosecutors countered that the plea was knowing and voluntary and that the facts support a significant sentence.
The abuse allegations span repeated beatings, food deprivation, and confinement, according to arrest reports described by prosecutors at prior hearings. A doctor who treated one child after the rescue said injuries were consistent with prolonged malnourishment and blunt force trauma. Police said two children were locked in a kennel for extended periods. The apartment was a one-bedroom unit with little food and few belongings. The incident prompted renewed questions about how abuse reports are handled and what warning signs neighbors or agencies may have missed. Court documents do not identify the children by name, and the state says it is protecting their privacy. What role, if any, outside caregivers or schools played in raising concerns remains unknown from the public record.
The legal focus now is on sentencing. Nevada law allows a wide range for felony child abuse, and judges weigh aggravating factors, mitigation, and any negotiated caps. The court will set the exact minimum and maximum within the range tied to the plea. Defense attorneys could seek a psychological evaluation or character statements; prosecutors often submit medical summaries and photographs to support their recommendation. A written judgment would follow the sentencing hearing. Any challenge to the length imposed would move through standard post-judgment motions and then appeal timelines if filed.
Outside court, a small group of onlookers expressed anger. “Those kids deserved safety and food, not a cage,” said a neighbor who attended the hearing. A children’s advocate who works with foster families said cases like this leave lasting trauma and require long-term therapy. The stepmother remains in state custody under her earlier sentence. The children are not publicly identified; authorities say they are receiving services and have been placed in safe care. The courtroom exchange was brief, and the judge did not immediately rule.
The judge is expected to schedule formal sentencing and set the exact term in the coming weeks. Until then, the plea agreement stays in place, and the defendant remains jailed at the Clark County Detention Center awaiting transport for any evaluations the court orders.
Author note: Last updated February 6, 2026.