Grandfather changes plea in case of infant’s death from a fall off a cruise ship
Sam Anello, charged with negligent homicide after his 18-month-old granddaughter Chloe Wiegand fell to her death off a Royal Caribbean ship last July, has changed his plea to guilty.
“I took a plea deal today to try to help end part of this nightmare for my family, if possible,” Anello said in a statement released through Miami-based law firm Lipcon, Margulies, Alsina & Winkleman. “The support they continue to give me has been beyond overwhelming and I can’t tell you how grateful I am for them.”
Anello’s attorney in Puerto Rico filed the change of plea Tuesday. Anello won’t do any prison time. His probation will be served in Indiana, where his family and Chloe’s family live.
“This decision was an incredibly difficult one for Sam and the family,” attorney Michael Winkleman said, “but because the plea agreement includes no jail time and no admission of facts, it was decided the plea deal is in the best interests of the family so that they can close this horrible chapter and turn their focus to mourning Chloe and fighting for cruise passenger safety by raising awareness about the need for all common carriers to adhere to window fall prevention laws designed to protect children from falling from windows.”
Winkleman’s firm is handling the civil suit against Royal Caribbean filed by Chloe’s parents, Alan Wiegand and Kimberly Schultz-Wiegand. Winkleman said that suit will suffer “little to no effect” from Anello’s guilty plea because Anello’s neither plaintiff nor defendant in the lawsuit. If Royal Caribbean brought up the guilty plea, Winkleman said they would argue it’s irrelevant.
Royal Caribbean filed an amended motion to dismiss to which the Wiegand’s attorneys are filing a response Wednesday. Winkleman expects a ruling within 30 days.
While Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas was docked in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Anello was holding Chloe in front of windows on the Freedom of the Seas’ H2O Zone before she fell approximately 11 stories through an open window pane.
Anello’s statement said he thought all that glass so far above ground would be fixed, unable to be opened.
“From my point of view, at the moment the accident happened, it was as if this wall of protective glass disappeared,” Anello said. “I was in complete disbelief. It was a nightmare of the likes I could never have imagined before.
“I wasn’t drinking and I wasn’t dangling her out of a window. I just wanted to knock on the glass with her as we did together so many times before. I was just so horribly wrong about our surroundings. I was placed in charge of keeping my beautiful granddaughter safe and I failed.
“It will always be a constant nightmare every day and every night for the rest of my life.”
This story was originally published February 26, 2020 at 9:13 AM.
