Jake Haro daughter permanently bedridden as a result of long-term child abuse, DA says

CABAZON, Calif. - Jake and Rebecca Haro have been charged with the murder of their 7-month-old son, Emmanuel Haro. 

As the two await arraignment scheduled for September, officials are revealing more details about Jake and Rebecca Haro's past criminal histories leading up to this case involving Emmanuel.

‘Jake Haro should have been in prison’

What they're saying:

During a press conference on Wednesday, Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin discussed a 2018 incident in which Jake was previously convicted on a charge of willful child cruelty after an incident involving Carolina, his then 10-week-old daughter, with a different woman. 

"We believed it was a prison case and that Jake Haro should have gone to prison," Hestrin said. 

But in 2023, Jake struck a deal with prosecutors and entered a guilty plea to a single count of willful child neglect. 

In this case, a judge in Riverside County happened to be a visiting judge from San Bernardino County and gave Jake Haro a suspended sentence, Hestrin said.

Instead of sending Jake to prison, the judge chose to give Jake probation for 48 months.

Hestrin said his prosecutor objected to this decision and affirmed that it is a prison case. However, the judge decided that "Mr. Haro deserved an extra break."

"That decision was absolutely outrageous. Mr. Haro should have been in prison at the time that this crime happened, and if that judge had done his job as he should have done, Emmanuel would be alive today," Hestrin added. 

Jake was charged with violating his probation when he was allegedly caught with a firearm less than a year later. That case was scheduled to go to trial later this year, but it's unclear if Jake's current arrest will impact the timeline of those proceedings. 

Hestrin said he wasn't aware of previous child abuse cases on Rebecca's record.

"We have an absolute breakdown of the justice system, and we are not preventing other children from being harmed when someone like Jake is allowed to be out on the streets harming children," Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said. "There is nothing more important to us than the death of a human, particularly a child."

"This baby was failed by his parents," Hestrin said.

Jake Haro 2018 child abuse case details

Dig deeper:

To emphasize the severity of the crime, Hestrin detailed the injuries Carla allegedly suffered at the hands of her father. 

Carla is alive but is permanently bedridden and has permanent damage - cerebral palsy - as a result of long-term child abuse, he said.

According to Hestrin, Carla's injuries included: 

• Acute fracture of the posterior left rib, fifth rib
• Healing fractures of the posterior lateral six seventh and 10th through 12th ribs
• Healing fractures of the sixth and ninth through 12th ribs
• Partial bone fracture of the skull
• Brain hemorrhage
• Significant pre-vertebral soft tissue swelling of the neck
• A healing tibia fracture of the right leg

"This is severe abuse for an infant," Hestrin said. "Someone who does that to a child belongs in prison. Period."

According to court documents obtained by People, one of the doctors who examined the baby later said that her "condition could have been fatal if medical attention was not sought."

What happened to baby Emmanuel?

The backstory:

Jake and Rebecca were each charged with felony murder with malice on Tuesday, Aug. 26 in the death of their son Emmanuel, according to the Riverside County District Attorney’s office. They were also charged with filing a false police report, which is a misdemeanor. 

The Haros initially reported that their son had been kidnapped on Aug. 14, though investigators later determined that did not happen. Authorities believe the child is dead, though his remains have yet to be recovered.

Emmanuel was reported missing on Aug. 14. His mother told investigators that she had been attacked while changing Emmanuel's diaper in the parking lot of a store in the San Bernardino County community of Yucaipa, authorities said. She claimed that someone said "Hola" to her, after which everything "went blank."

"I woke up on the floor, and my son was gone," she said in an interview last week with FOX 11.

The couple appeared on several news reports making pleas to the public to help find their son.

Over the weekend, investigators said the couple had stopped cooperating, adding that there were "inconsistencies" in the mother's story. Investigators declined to discuss what these inconsistencies were.

On Friday, Aug. 22, the Haros were taken into custody on suspicion of murder at their home in Cabazon, 90 miles east of Los Angeles. 

Authorities searched the family's home, and over the weekend they searched for the boy's body near a freeway while his father, wearing a jail jumpsuit, was present. The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said it wouldn't describe Jake's presence during the search as "providing assistance," but declined to elaborate.

Next court date

What's next:

Jake and Rebecca's next court date is Sept. 4. 

Both maintain their innocence.