Jake Haro, the California man charged in the suspected death of his seven-month-old son Emmanuel Haro, was sentenced Monday to more than 30 years in prison.
Jake, 32, was sentenced after he pleaded guilty last month to second-degree murder of his son, Emmanuel, the Riverside County District Attorney’s office said in a statement.
Riverside County Superior Court Judge Gary Polk sentenced Jake to 25 years to life in state prison for assault on a child under age eight causing death. He was also sentenced to 180 days for filing a false police report and the court imposed an additional six-year term for his prior child abuse case. Jake was also sentenced to another eight months in prison for “being a felon in possession of a firearm.”
The sentences will run consecutively, and he was credited with 551 days for time served. He was also ordered to pay US$10,000 in restitution.
Riverside County prosecutors asked for Jake to be sentenced to 31 years to life in prison for killing Emmanuel and for assaulting another child in 2018. Jake pleaded guilty to child endangerment for causing severe and lasting injuries to his then-10-month-old daughter and was given a six-year suspended prison term that prosecutors said should now be applied.
“The lies told in this case only deepened the tragedy of Emmanuel’s death,” said Mike Hestrin, district attorney in Riverside County. “While today’s sentence represents a measure of accountability for Jake Haro, our office will continue to seek justice as the case against his co-defendant moves forward.”
Emmanuel’s mother, Rebecca Haro, 41, has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and filing a false police report. She is being held on $1-million bail and is due to appear in court on Jan. 21, 2026 for a felony settlement conference.
The false report charges stem from the parents’ falsified report of Emmanuel’s abduction on Aug. 14, when Rebecca claimed she was attacked in a parking lot while changing her son’s diaper and that Emmanuel was then kidnapped.
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“Authorities in San Bernardino County investigating that report found it to be false and the couple was later arrested and charged by the Riverside County DA’s Office with Emmanuel’s murder. As of this news release, the boy’s remains have not been recovered,” the district attorney’s office added in a statement last month.
In late August, Rebecca and Jake were both charged with murder. Prosecutors believe that the child had been dead for up to nine days before his mother reported the alleged abduction, according to court documents viewed by news affiliate KTLA.
Rebecca and Jake were arrested at their home in Cabazon on Aug. 22, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said.
Speaking to ABC Eyewitness News in early August, Rebecca claimed she was assaulted from behind in a store parking lot in Yucaipa, Calif., near San Bernardino.
“I got him out of the car seat, and I laid him down so I could get his diapers ready, and somebody said, ‘Hola,’ and that’s all I remember. I saw white, and I fell on the floor, and as soon as I got up, I couldn’t find my son. I checked all around my truck,” Rebecca, who had a black eye, told the outlet.
Rebecca claimed she never saw her alleged attacker, and no security footage was found in the area where Emmanuel, the youngest of her six children, disappeared.
Authorities said in a statement that they later confronted Rebecca about inconsistencies in her account and that she refused to co-operate.
Prosecutors believe Emmanuel died due to multiple acts of abuse and that repeated assaults eventually led to the boy’s death. His remains have still not been recovered, according to the Riverside County District Attorney’s office.
— With files from The Associated Press
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