The mother of 7-month-old Emmanuel Haro — who claimed her son was abducted, sparking a frantic search across the Inland Empire — is now facing a lengthy prison sentence after pleading guilty to charges related to her role in the infant’s disappearance and death.
Rebecca Renee Haro, 42, initially denied the charges against her, but on Friday she changed her stance and upgraded the charge to involuntary manslaughter, pleading guilty to aggravated child abuse causing serious bodily injury to a child under 5 years old. He was also found guilty of being an accessory after the fact, according to the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office.
According to prosecutors, as part of the plea agreement, Haro was sentenced to 12 years and eight months in state prison.
“Rebecca Haro’s plea and sentence today reflect her sins of parenting omission,” Asst. District. Atty. Brandon Smith said in a statement. “Her choice not to intervene was a choice to allow, if not to facilitate, Emmanuelle’s death. As Emmanuelle’s mother this defendant had a legal and moral responsibility. She seriously failed in that duty.”
Haro’s plea comes nearly six months after her husband, Jake Haro, 33, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 25 years in prison for the murder of their infant son, plus 180 days for filing a false police report.
Emmanuel’s disappearance attracted national attention when Haro and her husband told authorities that their son had been abducted after someone attacked him in a Yucaipa parking lot on August 14.
Freelance journalists, online detectives and followers of criminal cases Traveled across the country to follow developments in the missing child case.
But a week after the kidnapping was reported, investigators arrested the couple at their Cabazon home after determining that Emmanuel was probably dead and The couple had lied about their story.
officer also Another 2-year-old child removed from couple’s custody And Explored a field in Moreno Valley, With Jake Haro in prison jumpsuit.
Emmanuel’s body has still not been found.
According to the police affidavit for the arrest warrant, investigators paid special attention to the boy’s father, who was previously convicted of intentional child endangerment in 2018 after his daughter was taken to the hospital with a skull fracture, multiple fractures to her ribs, bleeding on the brain, a swollen neck and a tibia fracture in her leg.
Prosecutors believe multiple acts of abuse and physical assault led to Emmanuel’s death.
“While the evidence established that Jake Haro was the person who caused the fatal injuries,” prosecutors wrote in a statement, prosecutors alleged that Rebecca Haro became aware of Emmanuel’s deteriorating condition and signs of ongoing abuse, failed to protect him or get necessary medical care, and subsequently participated in efforts to conceal the crime.
