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'You'll never lose your daddy again' | One man's journey from prison to peacekeeper

A visit in prison from his 5-year-old daughter saved his life. Now he's working to save others from the life he once lived.

STOCKTON, Calif. — Robert Mosqueda only got a couple of visits when he was locked up in prison, but there was one that changed his life.

It was from his then 5-year-old daughter.

"I was her world," Mosqueda said. "I was everything to her. And she's hugging me, and she's got her little arms wrapped around my neck. And I could feel her--she's squeezing tight."

When their time together was up, she wouldn't let go.

"Her mom and everybody is starting to pull her off of me," Mosqueda said. "And she's just holding on as tight as she can. And when they pull her away from me, I see tears streaming down her face."

Mosqueda's daughter screamed.

"'I want my daddy! I want my daddy! I want my daddy!'," Mosqueda remembers her yelling.

It was at the moment he knew what he'd done that to her. He'd broken her heart.

"And I made a promise at that moment: my kids will never shed another tear because of my choices," Mosqueda said.

Mosqueda got out in 2011 after a three-year stint in state prison. He went on to study behavioral science at San Joaquin Delta College and eventually transferred to the University of the Pacific, where he received his bachelor’s degree in sociology.

Today, Mosqueda is an outreach supervisor at the City of Stockton's Office of Violence Prevention, which works to reduce violence in the city by using "data-driven, partnership programs and strategies."

Data compiled by the office indicates that out of Stockton's population of 320,000 residents, only 250 of them are at a "very high-risk" of either pulling a trigger to commit violence or being on the receiving end of a bullet.

"This is where I really wanted to have an impact," Mosqueda said.

He started off as a Peacekeeper, a program that was folded into the office after it was created in 2012 in response to a record-breaking spike in homicides. Peacekeepers work directly with those "very high-risk" individuals to gain their trust and help them break their ties from a life of violence and forge a new path.

Over the next couple of weeks, ABC10 will be spending time with those who work in the Office of Violence Prevention, and those who have been impacted by it to get a better understanding of how it operates.

For more of our deep dives on Stockton, visit abc10.com/Originals.

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Watch the series here:

This playlist is a continuing series from ABC10 reporter Michael Anthony Adams delving into the history of violence in Stockton, California.

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