A Florida father will serve a 20-year prison sentence after he and his wife abandoned their 18-month-old daughter in a car during intense summer heat last year.
According to FOX News Tampa Bay, Joel Rondon, 34, admitted guilt to aggravated manslaughter of a child in his daughter’s 2023 death. Judge Jalal Harb sentenced him on Friday.
Rondon tested positive for methamphetamine, marijuana, and alcohol, while his wife, Jazmine Rondon, tested positive for marijuana and alcohol.
The couple left their toddler unattended overnight after coming home from a Fourth of July celebration.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, an autopsy concluded that victim died of hyperthermia. Her parents were subsequently charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child.
“This child is 18 months old,” Polk County sheriff Grady Judd said in 2013. “She is not old enough to let herself out of the harness but she’s old enough to realize she’s suffering a torturous death at the negligence of Joel and Jazmine.”
Jazmine Rondon, 34, is awaiting trial on the same charges.
“One of the most impressive facts of this case is that you decided to go back to the vehicle to retrieve your cigarettes, and you didn’t notice your child there,” Harb said to Joel Rondon during sentencing.
“This is not a question and you’re done talking. You failed that child then, and you continue to fail that child now.”
