FALL RIVER, Mass. -- A Fall River father is being accused of locking his two young children in the trunk of his car.

Michael Monahan pleaded not guilty Wednesday to assault and reckless endangerment of a child in Fall River District Court and was released on cash bail after he tried to explain to a judge that he is a good father who pays his child support on time.

Police said the 35-year-old put his kids, ages 3 and 6, in the trunk of his Pontiac Trans Am for several minutes while he went inside Fall River's Bay Sailing equipment shop to run an errand Tuesday morning.

A worker thought it was suspicious that the same boys he had seen changing their clothes in the open trunk minutes earlier were no longer with Monahan. He insisted on seeing them and detectives said Monahan finally agreed to open the trunk.

One child was crying and the other was asleep, prosecutors said.

According to court records, Monahan told investigators the boys like to play in the trunk.

"He's extremely distraught, your honor, about this. He loves his children," his attorney told the judge.

The judge told him he could not see his children on Thanksgiving or in the near future. The children are now in the custody of their mother.

Monahan, who is from Martha's Vineyard, is due back in court Jan. 19.