A southern California father who pleaded guilty to killing his missing seven-month-old son was sentenced Monday to more than 30 years in prison.
Jake Haro, 32, was sentenced after he pleaded guilty in October to the second-degree murder of his son, Emmanuel, the Riverside county district attorney’s office said in a statement. A months-long investigation has failed to locate the child’s remains.
Haro and his wife, Rebecca, had reported the baby was kidnapped outside a store in southern California in August, saying Rebecca Haro was attacked and left unconscious while changing the boy’s diaper. The case drew widespread attention as authorities and members of the public fanned out to search for the boy.
The couple were arrested a little more than a week later at their home in the desert community of Cabazon, about 20 miles (32km) west of Palm Springs, after Rebecca Haro was confronted about inconsistencies in their account.
Gary Polk, a Riverside county superior court judge, sentenced Haro to seven years and two months in prison for a probation violation and other charges, then 25 years to life for assault on a child under age eight, according to the Press-Enterprise. The sentences will run consecutively. Haro was also ordered to pay $10,000 in restitution.
Rebecca Haro, 41, has pleaded not guilty and is being held on $1m bail. She is due to appear in court in January.
Riverside county prosecutors asked for Jake Haro to be sentenced to 31 years to life in prison for killing Emmanuel and for assaulting another child in 2018. Haro 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.
“Jake Haro murdered seven-month-old Emmanuel but, in reality, he comes before this court having taken the lives of two young children. If there are lower forms of evil in this world, I am not aware of them,” Brandon Smith, assistant district attorney in Riverside county, wrote in court filings.
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