The grandfather who was with his 18-month-old granddaughter when she fell to the death of an open window on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship was sentenced on Monday to three years probation, according to the Puerto Rico Department of Justice.
Salvatore “Sam” Anello of Valparaiso, Indiana, pleaded guilty to negligent homicide last year after his granddaughter, Chloe Wiegand, fell from an 11-story window on the ship docked in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in July 2019.
Anello initially pleaded not guilty, but last February said he would plead guilty so that his family could begin to recover from the tragedy. The court agreement allowed Anello to avoid prison terms and to serve parole in his home state, said Michael Winkleman, a lawyer for the Wiegand family.
Chloe was with her mother at a children’s water park on the 11th pool deck. Her mother had to take care of another matter and asked Anello to keep an eye on her, according to an ongoing lawsuit that the family filed in December 2019 against Royal Caribbean Cruises.
The family claims that the cruise ship company is to blame for Chloe’s death, a claim the company vehemently denied. Royal Caribbean did not immediately return a request for comment on Monday.
The lawsuit said that Anello was “closely supervising” his granddaughter “when Chloe approached a nearby glass wall.” Anello followed him and placed the girl near the window so she could hit the glass, but she slipped from his hands and fell through the open window.
Anello said repeatedly that he did not know that the window was open, while the cruise company released images that prove that Anello leaned out of the window and therefore knew it was open. Winkleman said the photos were “misleading”.
In July 2019, Chloe’s mother, Kimberly Wiegand, said it was disconcerting that there would be an outdoor window on the pool deck on the 11th floor. “There are a million things that could have been done to make this more secure,” she said.
