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() The District Attorney’s Office of Riverside County said there has been “a significant amount of misinformation” regarding rulings in the previous criminal case against the father of missing Emmanuel Haro.
Jake Haro, the father of Emmanuel, was ordered to attend a child abuse program as part of a suspended sentence for a separate child abuse case in 2018; in that case, injuries left his then-10-month-old daughter permanently disabled.
Haro allegedly violated his parole in 2024 and was briefly locked up before being let go after posting bail. At the time, Emmanuel, who went missing at 7 months old, had not yet been born.
His son Emmanuel has been missing since Aug. 14, when Rebecca Haro reported the baby missing, telling police she had been assaulted in a California parking lot and he had been kidnapped. As the search progressed, police later determined her story was false.
DA’s office ‘strongly objected’ to plea deal
In a lengthy statement issued Thursday, the DA’s office said it believes the charges against Haro “could have been more severe,” but given Haro’s guilty plea, the charges could not be increased after the judge accepted the plea.
The office said it “strongly objected” to the sentence before the ruling.
“We believe that granting Mr. Haro probation under these circumstances, on these facts, was an inappropriate use of that discretion. And that was the basis of our objection.”
Both Haro and his wife entered not guilty pleas earlier this month on charges of murdering their son and filing a false police report.
‘Justice’ for baby Emmanuel
The DA’s office suggested it would have been “highly likely” that it would have sought more severe charges for Haro if a guilty plea had not been entered in his previous case.
Meanwhile, “Our office’s primary focus remains providing justice for Baby Emmanuel,” the statement read.
“It is essential that we do not lose sight of who is truly responsible for the loss of life at issue in this case and focus our time and energy on ensuring justice for Baby Emmanuel.”