A Florida father will reportedly spend the next two decades in prison after he and his wife abandoned their 18-month-old daughter in a car during the state’s scorching summer.
Judge Jalal Harb sentenced Joel Rondon, 34, on Friday for aggravated manslaughter of a child in the death of his daughter last year. This was reported by WTVT, a Fox affiliate in Tampa.
Joel Rondon had methamphetamine, marijuana, and alcohol in his system. His wife Jazmine Rondon had both marijuana and alcohol in her system. After coming home from a Fourth of July party, they left the toddler for the night.
Rondon is said to have said that the death of his daughter left him “shattered and scarred.” At his sentencing, Harb was very harsh with him.
The judge is said to have said, “One of the most impressive things about this case is that you went back to the car to get your cigarettes and did not notice your child there.”
“This is not a question, and you can end your sentence.” You let that child down then, and you still let that child down now.
Jazmine Rondon, 34, is also being held in jail while she is tried for aggravated manslaughter of a child.
According to a press release from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, the Rondon family went to the party in Lakeland with their three kids, who are 8 years old, 6 years old, and 18 months old.
The parents had both drunk alcohol and smoked marijuana at the party, and by the time the family got home around 3 a.m. on July 5, 2023, the release says.
When they got home, Jazmine Rondon told her husband to bring the toddler inside while she took the other two kids inside. He said that the door to the car where they got to the child’s seat was open at that time.
After putting some things inside, he went back outside and saw that all four doors of the car were shut. Joel Rondon thought his wife had come home with their daughter, so he went to sleep in bed with her.
The release says that the husband and wife did not ask each other if they had brought the victim inside.
The next morning, Joel Rondon woke up around 10 a.m. and got ready for work for about an hour.
The release says that around 11 a.m., he asked one of the older kids to “check on the baby” in the bedroom. But the kid told Joel that the baby was not in the bedroom, which made him look all over the house.
Rondon finally went outside to look inside the car, which was parked in the driveway and out in the sun.
He found the toddler, still strapped into her car seat, inside the car but not moving. In a panic, he brought the child inside and then drove her and Jazmine to Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center.
The girl’s body temperature was lowered and attempts were made to bring her back to life, but she could not be saved.
Police say she was pronounced dead at 2:42 p.m. The child’s body temperature was 104.4 degrees Fahrenheit when she died, according to the police. The medical center staff quickly told the police, who then took over the investigation.
“Even though it was painfully clear that this child was dying in terrible pain, Lakeland Regional still worked on the baby to try to save its life.” That animal was dead, though, Sheriff Grady Judd said.
Judd also said that it was 105 degrees outside on the day the victim died.
Around 7 p.m. that same night, both parents willingly agreed to drug tests that were being done by the Department of Children and Families.
“Jazmine tests positive for alcohol and marijuana seventeen hours after getting home from the party.” It turns out that Joel has alcohol, marijuana, and methamphetamines in his system, Judd said.
“One hundred and seventeen hours later—you can imagine how tired they were when they got home from the party and put this child in the car seat.”
After the fact, an autopsy showed that the victim’s death was caused by hyperthermia from being left in a car for too long. The death was officially ruled a murder. Joel and Jazmine were arrested in July 2023 and taken to the Polk County Jail to be booked in.