The charging of Jake and Rebecca Haro of the murder of their baby Emmanuel has caused the Riverside district attorney and sheriff to question both the handling of a prior case against Jake and the involvement of social media creators.

Riverside District Attorney Michael Hestrin and Sheriff Chad Bianco both said at an Aug. 27 press conference that Jake should be in prison after pleading guilty to the felony abuse of his other daughter with his ex-wife. Without naming Acting Riverside Superior Judge Dwight Moore, they criticized his decision to suspend Jake’s six-year prison sentence and place him on probation. 

The two became frustrated when asked about false reports circulating from, they claim, inaccurate practices of social media creators. 

Jake pleaded guilty to one felony charge of willful child cruelty on June 12, 2023, in a case for which he was charged alongside his ex-wife, Vanessa Avina. Avina was arrested for a felony count of willful child cruelty, but pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge on June 8, 2023. She was sentenced to 120 days in county jail and 48 months of probation.

Acting Riverside Superior Judge Dwight Moore sentenced Jake to 180 days in county jail and 72 months in state prison, but suspended the prison sentence and placed him on four years of probation. If Jake violated probation, his sentence would be restored and he would be sent to prison. The ruling prevented him from having contact with his abused daughter.

On July 10, 2024, a complaint charged Jake with violating Penal Code Section 29800(a)(1): being a felon in possession of a firearm. He pleaded not guilty, and has not been convicted. The same day, prosecutors in Riverside Superior Court filed a petition claiming that he violated probation, based on the firearm charge. 

The court scheduled a hearing on the petition to revoke probation on Aug. 9, 2024. It was continued. The court scheduled another for Dec. 13. A request to continue the December hearing was not contested by the line prosecutor. Another violation of probation arraignment hearing was scheduled for April 25, another for July 2, and another for Aug. 26.

Haro’s defense counsel asked to delay the July 2 hearing. His motion was unopposed by the prosecutor.

At the press conference, Hestrin described the events as follows:

“(Jake and Avina) were prosecuted for child abuse as well, child cruelty. That child was also an infant. That came to the courts, arrested in 2018, came to the courts in 2023…Our indication, what we wanted out of the case, was prison. We believed it was a prison case, and that Jake Haro should have gone to prison. Jake Haro plead straight up to the court, which, sometimes reporters get this wrong, and you call it a plea bargain. Judges are not allowed to plea bargain. Defendants can plea bargain with the prosecutor, but when a defendant pleads up to a court, they plead to everything they’ve been charged with. In this case, a judge, here in Riverside County, happened to be a visiting judge from San Bernardino County, gave Mr. Haro a suspended sentence. Instead of prison, probation, and if he violated probation, he would go to prison. The prosecutor objected. The judge decided, as is the judge’s right to do in that case, he decided that Mr, Haro deserved an extra break, and gave him probation, and basically 180 days of work release, which ends up being like community service. I will say that it was an outrageous, an outrageous error in justice by this judge. I don’t have any problem saying that, I’m not attacking the judge personally, 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. That’s a shame, and that’s an outrage. And, I hate to say it, but when our criminal justice system breaks down, I am going to just call it like it is, and tell you, it broke down. It is not how it is supposed to work. The judge, obviously, meant well. At the end of the sentence, he told Jake, ‘I’m going to give you a break today. Don’t mess it up,’” Hestrin said.

Hestrin read the descriptions of the child’s injuries, and said she is permanently bed-ridden and has cerebral palsy as result of child abuse.

“This is severe abuse for an infant. Whatever you think of the criminal justice system, and if people need a break, someone who does that to a child belongs in prison. Period,” Hestrin continued.

Bianco also made statements about the suspension of the sentence, and referenced the 2023 murder of Riverside Sheriff’s Deputy Isaiah Cordero by a convicted defendant who had a warrant for his arrest.

“When we talk about why we are here in the first place, that we believe someone murdered Baby Emmanual, who should still be in prison, but we have this unbelievable love for criminals, believing that they are somehow victims, and now we all are traumatized by it. We were all in this room a couple of years ago when I had a deputy murdered, because someone was out on the street that should have been life in prison, but a judge (San Bernardino Superior Judge Cara Hutson) let them go. 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 on the streets harming children,” Bianco said.

Bianco called for Hutson’s resignation following the shooting. The American Board of Trial Advocates, a professional organization for attorneys, published a full-page ad in the Los Angeles Times in Hutson’s defense.

At the press conference, Hestrin disputed reports that an officer had posed as an inmate and solicited a confession from Jake.

“We’re hearing some reports of a confession made in jail by Jake Haro,” a reporter said.

“I can tell you that that’s not true, there was no confession made in jail,” Hestrin said.

A second reporter also asked about the rumor.

“I think the obvious question is, what happened then. I mean we did hear the reports my coworker just asked, about the jail confession, the authorities used a fake inmate to get information and he, the father confessed that he,” the reporter said.

“Well, see, that’s not true, so, I don’t know where you—” Hestrin said.

“We have—” the reporter said.

Well, no, no. This is what happens when you got all these folks out there online, and these keyboard warriors, you get a lot of misinformation, and what you said is untrue, it’s misinformation, so that’s what I’ll tell you, did not happen,” Hestrin said.

Bianco and Hestrin both said that the search for Emmanuel’s body should be left up to the combined forces of San Bernardino and Riverside’s Sheriff’s Offices.

Ahmed Bellozo, a Riversider who hosts and livestreams a show called On the Tira, asked for Hestrin to share any information he could on the potential remains, so that he could get some rest.

“Can you tell us a little bit more details, so if you do know anything, so that I can stop looking? Please? Because I’m here, I’m in this everyday, I mean no disrespect, trust me, I understand who you are, but can you please, if you have information, if you know something, can you please, so I can get some rest?” Bellozo asked.

“Well, you should get some rest, sir, you should get some rest but no, I can’t share with you anything,” Hestrin said.

“That’s fine,” Bellozo said.

“Look, there are professionals that are looking for the remains of this child. If the public has any information, then we ask for their help, so we don’t know exactly where the remains are, we have some ideas in terms of where we are going to look and where we are going to continue to investigate,” Hestrin said.

Bianco later also commented on Bellozo’s question.

“The question way earlier: ‘get some rest.’ There should be nobody out there looking for baby Emmanuel except for us, because all you are going to do is complicate things in the future,” Bianco said.

Bellozo posted a video, the day following the hearing, that he was going to respect the sheriff’s office and refrain from following any additional leads. He directed people with information to give it to the authorities, and concluded by saying that he did not think the remains could be found.

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