Dad charged in fire deaths of 2 sons

Cook County prosecutors have charged the father of 2 boys killed in an electrical fire last month with felony child endangerment.

Prosecutors on Wednesday alleged Leroy Towers of Lansing locked his sons, 2-year-old Joshua and 5-year-old Jeremiah, in a bedroom before he left to buy groceries and pick up a friend on Jan. 4. The napping boys died of smoke inhalation.

State's attorney spokeswoman Tandra Simonton says on the day of the fire, the 40-year-old Towers told authorities he was working in the basement when the fire broke out. However, she says investigators determined Towers was away from the home in the Chicago suburb when the fire started.

The boys' mother, a soldier, was serving with the military in Iraq at the time of the fire.

During a court hearing Wednesday, Towers was ordered held in lieu of $200,000.