Lucas’ dad, Jonathan Hernandez, pleads guilty to battery, ordered to take parenting class

Jonathan Hernandez, the father of 5-year-old Lucas Hernandez, who was found dead two months ago, has been ordered to take a parenting class after he pleaded guilty to hitting a child who was spraying Febreeze.

Hernandez was sentenced to a year of probation and ordered to successfully complete a court-approved parenting class, District Attorney Marc Bennett said in a release on Wednesday.

Hernandez, 34, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery after a February incident where he struck the 6-year-old son of his girlfriend, causing redness and swelling on the boy's chest, Bennett said.

Emily Glass, who was Hernandez's live-in girlfriend, died from a gunshot to her head last month. An autopsy ruled her death a suicide.

Police had described Glass as Lucas' stepmother. She had reported him missing from their home on South Edgemoor on Feb. 17. She later led private investigator David Marshburn to the boy's body, which was found under a small culvert bridge on a rural dirt road in southeast Harvey County.

When Hernandez was charged in May, Bennett told The Eagle that the battery charge was the result of a separate investigation and did not involve Lucas' disappearance.

On Feb. 5, court documents state, Park City police were called to a domestic violence report. The father of Glass' 6-year-old son said the boy had been hit by Hernandez.

The boy's father told police that he picked up his son at around 4 p.m. after he was visiting Glass at her apartment in the 1100 block of South Webb. On the drive to their Park City home, the boy told his father that at around 1 p.m. Hernandez "smacked his chest because he was spraying a Febreeze bottle," court documents state.

When the father looked at his son's chest, he said he saw what appeared to be a hand mark.

Three days later, a Department for Children and Families employee interviewed the boy while at school. He said he began to cry after Hernandez hit him and Hernandez "pushed him down onto the couch by pushing his chest one handed with his fingers," court documents state.

The boy told the DCF worker that "he does not like Jonathan because he uses loud voices with him and his brother."

Hernandez told a Wichita police detective that the boy "was spraying a spray bottle and continued to do so after being told to stop. He reached for the bottle to take it from (the boy) and accidentally hit his chest instead of taking the bottle."

Another detective reported in court documents that a photo of the boy's chest appeared to show "three finger prints where the skin is raised and the area is red around it. The photographs would have been taken approximately three and a half hours after Jonathan struck (him)."

Hernandez had been scheduled for a jury trial on July 16, but Bennett said a court appearance is not required when a person pleads guilty to a class B misdemeanor.

The probation prohibits drug use and leaving Kansas without the probation officer's permission. Police have said Hernandez would work out of state for weeks at a time while Glass stayed home with Lucas and her daughter.

This story was originally published July 11, 2018 at 4:20 PM.