Jake Haro said in a jailhouse interview on Wednesday, Aug. 27, that Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin’s assertion that Haro’s missing 7-month-old son was the victim of long-term abuse was “not true at all,” but Haro declined to discuss what role, if any, he played in Emmanuel’s disappearance.

Haro, 32, and his wife, Rebecca, 41, were charged Tuesday, Aug. 26, with murder and filing a false police report, with bail set at $1 million each.

Jake Haro said little else about the case in the interview with a Southern California News Group reporter via video hookup at the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility in Banning.

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Haro would not say whether he led authorities to the Moreno Valley Badlands on Sunday, Aug. 24, where he was spotted with investigators. He did say he has been “completely cooperative” with investigators.

“I want to talk about it, but I can’t,” Haro said, referring to instructions from his attorney. “I was told, don’t do no press.”

Haro wore a red jail jumpsuit, indicating that he is in segregated housing for his protection. He said he had no contact with other inmates. Haro sometimes wiped his face with a white cloth. His eyes appeared to be red. Haro said he attended Banning High, where he played tight end and linebacker on the football team.

During the 45-minute interview, Haro said the couple cares about Emmanuel. They attempted to schedule several appointments to inoculate the boy, but one hospital was continually out of vaccines, the dad said. They eventually switched hospitals and had an Oct. 2 appointment to get Emmanuel his shots.

Rebecca Haro claimed that Emmanuel was kidnapped by a man who she said knocked her unconscious in the parking lot of a Big 5 in Yucaipa on Aug. 14, kicking off the investigation and what has become a national story.

Haro talked at length about his child-cruelty conviction in 2023, which he said prompted investigators to unfairly assume that he killed Emmanuel.

Haro said he accidentally dropped baby daughter Carolina on a sink divider while bathing her, but she appeared uninjured. However, the girl was later found to have broken bones and other serious injuries after Haro’s wife at the time, Vanessa, woke him up in the middle of the night. She is now bedridden, the district attorney said on Wednesday.

Both the husband and the wife made plea deals with the judge over the objection of the District Attorney’s Office. He received 180 days in the sheriff’s work-release program and was handed a suspended, four-year prison sentence and ordered to attend a child-abuser treatment program.

Jake Haro said Wednesday that the sentence was fair.

He said he wanted to take the case to trial, but “I pled guilty because I didn’t have the money to go to trial. … The judge said nobody would believe my side of the story. …

“Somehow, they magically convinced me to take this damn plea deal. I was sick of court. The judge knows I didn’t do it. They just railroaded me. I was the fall guy.”

Haro was hopeful on Wednesday that enough money could be raised — generally 10% of the bail — to free Rebecca, who he wed three years ago.

“Rebecca is innocent,”  Haro said. “The media is killing her. She is a beautiful woman. She loves her children.”

She is being held at the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside.

On Tuesday, after the Haros appeared in court, separated from one another, Jake Haro said he encountered her after getting off of an elevator.

“I’m trying to shout to her, ‘I love you,’ ” Haro said. ‘The deputy shoved me to the ground. He launched me, like I was a rag doll.”

Haro said he re-injured a shoulder.

The Sheriff’s Department on Wednesday declined to comment on that account.

“This investigation will be ongoing for quite some time,” Lt. Deirdre Vickers said in an email. “We are not going to comment on statements made by the suspect. Nor provide any details about the investigation.”

Haro also talked about social media posts from the public that have been highly critical of the Haros.

“God is with us,” he said. “The allegations are horrendous, so of course people are going to be riled up.”

Haro was asked what he would say to Emmanuel if he could talk to his boy.

“I love you, buddy,” Haro said.