SAN FERNANDO (TIP) A man who allegedly left his baby daughter locked in a hot car while he got a lap dance has been charged with child abuse in the US.

Auwin Dargin, 24, pleaded not guilty to the offence at a Los Angeles court on Monday and faces up to six years in prison if convicted.

He was looking after his nine-month old child when he visited the Synn Gentlemen’s Club for roughly an hour on 9 March, prosecutors said.

Matthew Nadeau, the strip club’s assistant manager, told the LA Times he became suspicious after seeing Dargin repeatedly enter and leave the club at around 2pm.

He and a waitress went outside to the car park, where they heard a child’s cries coming from inside his locked car.

Describing the baby as visibly shaken, they broke into the vehicle through a window left cracked open and took the child into the shade and gave it water.

Mr Nadeau said he immediately informed his manager, who was allegedly confronted by an “angry” Dargin for interrupting his lap dance.

Staff called the police and refused to let the man take his daughter home, prompting a dispute that ended when Dargin left the club and his baby.

A spokesperson for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office said Dargin, from Van Nuys, had been charged with one count of child abuse.

He is due to appear at the San Fernando branch of Los Angeles County Superior Court on 3 May.