Jake Haro, the father of missing baby Emmanuel, whose shocking disappearance activated an army of Internet detectives, was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for the murder of his 7-month-old son.
Haro, 32, who initially pleaded not guilty, changed course and pleaded guilty Oct. 16 to one count each of murder, assault on a child under 8 years of age causing death and filing a false police report, according to the Riverside County District Attorney's Office.
He and his wife, Rebecca Haro, 41, reported that their son was kidnapped after someone attacked her in a Yucaipa parking lot on August 14. But detectives quickly found holes in their story and charged both parents with murder.
On Monday, Haro received a sentence of 25 years to life in prison for murder, as well as a 180-day sentence for the false police report.
Because he committed these crimes while on probation, he must also serve a sentence of six years and eight months he previously received in a child abuse case, prosecutors said.
Emmanuel Haro was reported to have been kidnapped, but his parents later faced murder charges.
(San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department)
Haro was convicted of felony intentionally endangering a child in 2023 after his daughter was taken to the hospital in 2018 with a skull fracture, several healing rib fractures, a brain hemorrhage, swelling in the neck and a healing tibia fracture in her leg, according to a police affidavit for an arrest warrant.
A judge later stayed that sentence, a decision Riverside County Dist. Lawyer. Mike Hestrin lashed out at a press conference on August 27.
“If that judge had done his job like he should have, Emmanuel would be alive today,” Hestrin said. “That is a shame and it is an outrage.”
Haro has been credited with 551 days of sentence served and, as a result of the added charges, will spend a minimum of 30 years in prison before being eligible for parole.
Although baby Emmanuel's body has not yet been found, prosecutors believe multiple acts of abuse and physical assault led to the child's death.
The mother has maintained her innocence on charges of murder and filing a false police report. He is due back in court for a felony plea conference on Jan. 21, prosecutors said.
“The lies told in this case only deepened the tragedy of Emmanuel's death,” Hestrin said in a statement Monday. “While today's sentencing represents a measure of accountability for Jake Haro, our office will continue to seek justice as the case against the co-defendant moves forward.”
Prosecutors allege the couple deliberately faked the boy's abduction. When San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department investigators questioned the mother about inconsistencies in her police report, the couple stopped cooperating.
A week later, they were arrested at their home in Cabazon. In August, authorities took another 2-year-old boy from the couple's custody and toured a field in Moreno Valley accompanied by Haro in a prison jumpsuit.
Baby Emmanuel's remains have not yet been found.
Times staff writer Nathan Solis contributed to this report.
