A convicted Cabazon child abuser who killed his 7-month-old son and allegedly conspired with his wife to cover up the crime, is slated for sentencing Monday in Riverside.
Jake Mitchell Haro, 32, pleaded guilty on Oct. 16 to second-degree murder, child assault and filing a false police report. His spouse, 41-year-old Rebecca Rene Haro, did not join in the plea, which was made straight to Riverside County Superior Court Judge Gary Polk, without negotiations between the defense and prosecution.
The sentencing for Jake Haro is set for Monday morning at the Riverside Hall of Justice. He’s facing 20 years to life in state prison.
A separate preliminary hearing is scheduled for Rebecca Haro on Monday, but it’s uncertain whether that will proceed. She’s charged with murder and filing a false police report.
Jake Haro is being held without bail at the Smith Correctional Facility. His spouse is being held on $1 million bail at the Robert Presley Jail.
Baby Emmanuel’s body hasn’t been located.
His parents were arrested on Aug. 22 following a San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department investigation.
“There was forensic data from the crime scene,” San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus said during a news briefing in late August. “That’s how we learned the jurisdiction where this crime occurred (Riverside County). Forensically, there were a number of things we were able to prove up.”
He did not disclose specifics.
Emmanuel was reported missing in the 34000 block of Yucaipa Boulevard in Yucaipa on the evening of Aug. 14.
Rebecca Haro told deputies she’d been assaulted while standing near her vehicle, changing Emmanuel’s diaper outside a Big 5 store. The defendant suggested she was knocked out, and that the assailant fled with the tot.
On Aug. 18, sheriff’s detectives served search warrants at the defendants’ Ramona Street property, and “a large amount of surveillance video” was obtained from areas of interest for review, Dicus said.
Jake Haro was arrested and charged last year in Banning with illegal possession of a loaded firearm, as well as probation violations. That case hasn’t been resolved.
Court documents also revealed that Isabel Rebecca Gonzalez, Haro’s former spouse, filed a domestic violence retraining order against him with a request to protect the couple’s son, Eli.
Rebecca Haro has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.
District Attorney Mike Hestrin said Emmanuel’s death was preventable, blaming a failure in the criminal justice system for enabling Jake Haro to remain free on probation after pleading guilty in a child abuse case involving his ex-wife and another infant, Carolina.
In 2023, Haro admitted a child cruelty charge, but again pled directly to the court, avoiding negotiations with prosecutors. Hestrin said the D.A.’s office had wanted prison for the defendant’s extensive abuse of the girl, which resulted in broken ribs, a fractured skull and a brain hemorrhage, leaving her permanently bedridden.
“If that judge had done his job, Emmanuel would be alive today,” he said.
“Prior to any plea to the court in that case, we strongly objected to the proposed sentence,” according to the D.A.’s office. “Our objection was made based on the seriousness of the injuries Mr. Haro inflicted on his then-10-week-old daughter. When the court chose to deviate (from the prosecution’s effort to secure prison) … it was acutely aware of the heinous and permanent nature of this young victim’s injuries. We believe that granting Haro probation under these circumstances, on these facts, was an inappropriate use of (the court’s) discretion.”