This couple will not get nominated for parents of the year. Fox News reported that a couple from San Ramon, a town east of San Francisco, went to Las Vegas for several days and left their little boys home alone. The oldest boy was 9 and they told him to look after the youngest, who is only 5. As if that was not bad enough, the youngest is also autistic.

The couple did care enough about their new puppies to get someone to keep them while they were gone. The 9 year old said he thought the parents loved the puppies more than they loved him and his brother. That hurts. The mother of the children died in 2003. This couple is the father and the step mother.

The children spent one night alone. Their grandmother suspected they were alone and called police. She called the kids “helpless”. They managed to eat cereal for breakfast and cook frozen dinners in the microwave for dinner, so they did pretty well. Police found them asleep with the gas fireplace on, but nothing amiss. Police began calling the father on his cell phone on Saturday, but he did not return a call until Tuesday.

Police arrested the parents, Jacob Calero, 39, and Michelle De La Vega, 32, as they arrived home on a flight to Oakland. They are held on suspicion of two felony counts of child endangerment, with bail set at $200,000.