Sheboygan father charged after two children fall out of van

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SHEBOYGAN, Wis. (CBS 58) -- The Sheboygan father whose two young children fell out of the van he was driving without him even noticing has now been officially charged.

Thursday in court it was revealed that Robert Horsch is a stay at home dad with six kids who used to be an attorney. Now he’s facing up to 22 years in prison.

Horsch was officially charged with child neglect and operating a motor vehicle with a revoked license. He could also be charged with OWI, but the court is still waiting for blood test results. The assistant DA says Horsch has been convicted of four OWIs since 2010.

At the time of the incident, the criminal complaint says Horsch was on anxiety and depression medication. The complaint says Horsch was driving Monday night when the kids' ages 1 and 3-years-old fell out of the van near South 8th Street and Indiana Avenue.

Both children suffered road rash. The 3-year-old got a chipped tooth and the 1-year-old was taken to Children’s Hospital in Milwaukee for a broken skull bone. The 1-year-old was completely naked at the time of the incident without a diaper.

A third child was also in the car and the criminal complaint alleges Horsch noticed the children weren't buckled in before the kids flew out. When he got home he took care of the third child without realizing that the other two weren't there.

The assistant DA says their injuries could have been much worse if it wasn’t for bystanders who jumped in to help, "It’s extremely saddening that this could even happen that a father couldn’t even notice his own children falling out of the car. My first reaction is extreme gratefulness for the civilians involved in this case if it weren’t for their quick action these children could have been even more severely harmed or even killed," said Attorney Alexandra Smathers.

Horsch is now being held at the Sheboygan County Detention Center on a $10,000.

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