Probation, Parenting Class for Man Who Caged Daughters

A suburban Chicago man has been convicted of caging his two young daughters in the back of his pickup truck. Cook County state's attorney's office spokeswoman Tandra Simonton says Ricardo Gonzalez of Midlothian was convicted Tuesday of child endangerment after a bench trial. Judge Daniel Brennan ordered the 35-year-old to serve 18 months probation and attend parenting classes. Brennan also barred Gonzalez from contacting his kids while he's on probation and ordered him to spend 30 days in a work program. Gonzalez was charged in July after police say a woman at a gas station heard a crying child and spotted him pushing small hands back into a wire cage. Gonzalez told police he didn't have a baby sitter for the girls, ages 2 and 5, while he worked.