Swift Verdict: Woman Found Guilty After Toddlers Drown at Unlicensed Day Care

A 67-year-old woman from California has been sentenced to prison following a tragic incident at her unlicensed home day care, where two toddlers tragically drowned in a backyard pool after being left unsupervised.

Shahin Gheblehshenas was found guilty of three felony counts of child endangerment by a Santa Clara County jury, which reached its verdict after just two hours of deliberation, according to local authorities.

The conviction comes after a three-week trial that featured testimony from over 30 witnesses, shedding light on the heartbreaking events.

The day care was co-owned by Gheblehshenas’s daughter, 43-year-old Nina Fathizadeh, who had earlier admitted guilt to child endangerment charges related to the same case.

A news release from the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office detailed that the convictions arose from an incident in October 2023 at the San Jose home day care. During this incident, several toddlers managed to access the pool unsupervised, leading to the tragic drownings.

As Law&Crime previously reported, Gheblehshenas left her home that morning to go to an appointment then to another unlicensed day care operated at her daughter’s residence. Another worker had called in sick that day, leaving Fathizadeh as the sole caregiver at her mother’s home.

Gheblehshenas knew her husband regularly watered the plants and occasionally did not close the pool gate, prosecutors said. She didn’t check the pool gate before the day care opened that Monday morning and didn’t ask anyone else to check on it either, court documents obtained by NBC’s Bay Area affiliate KNTV stated.

At Gheblehshenas’s day care, the children played in the living room before Fathizadeh opened the sliding glass door and directed them into the backyard. She had a view of the pool gate — still propped open — yet she did nothing to close it, the charging document alleges.

Then she walked to the kitchen to finish preparing tea and oatmeal. From the kitchen, she could not see the children or the backyard. She was there for at least five minutes before going to the backyard to check on the children, the document said.

“Upon seeing that the gate to the pool was propped open by a drying rack, [Fathizadeh] went to the pool and located John Doe floating in the shallow end,” the charging document said.

She removed the boy from the pool and attempted CPR before moving him to a living room, calling 911, and trying CPR again.

She then woke her brother, asleep in his bedroom, for help. He went to the pool and found two toddlers floating in the deep end. The brother removed the children from the pool, called 911, and attempted CPR.

The children were taken to hospitals in critical status. Two of the victims, 18-month-old Peyton Cobb and 16-month-old Lillian Hanan, died despite lifesaving efforts. The third child survived.

Investigators determined the pool’s safety gate had been propped open, allowing the children to access the water. Authorities said neither Gheblehshenas nor Fathizadeh checked the gate before allowing the children outside, despite prior knowledge that it had been left unsecured.

“These defendants had the ultimate responsibility to care for these little ones and they criminally failed,” Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement following the verdict. “These small children tragically paid for this inattention and incompetence with their lives. We can’t bring them back. All we can do is pray for their families to find some peace in the knowledge that there will be accountability.”

The day care had faced scrutiny over staffing and supervision issues. Charging documents indicated Gheblehshenas left the home that morning without ensuring the environment was safe, even after learning staffing was limited. She also chose not to return after realizing she did not have the appointment she initially left for.

Both women are scheduled to be sentenced on May 22. They each face more than 10 years in prison. Fathizadeh faces an additional nine years in prison for “reckless driving” with seven unsecured toddlers “on a field trip outing from the day care,” prosecutors said.