Two women who owned and operated a residential day care in California have been arrested after two toddlers drowned earlier this month.
Nina Fathizadeh, 41, and Shahin Gheblehshenas, 64, were charged with felony child endangerment resulting in death and criminal negligence, according to press releases from police and the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office.
The mother and daughter ran Happy Happy Daycare in San Jose.
On the morning of Oct. 2 police responded for a wellness check after Fathizadeh called 911 to report a drowning at the small daycare licensed home on Fleetwood Avenue.
Police learned that four children were at the home at the time, with another expected to be dropped off soon.
They were all being watched by one person after a day care worker called in sick, and Gheblehshenas had gone to another day care.
The District Attorney’s Office said that while Fathizadeh was making breakfast she left one child in a crib and allegedly let three children into the rear patio play area unsupervised and out of her sight.
The play area was set up in the backyard adjacent to a pool surrounded by a five-foot fence, but investigators found the gate to the pool had been propped open for the purpose of watering plants, allowing the toddlers to enter the pool.
When Fathizadeh went into the yard, at least five minutes later, she found one of the children floating in the pool. As she attempted CPR, her brother – at home and now alerted to the emergency – found two other children floating unconscious in the pool.
“There is a responsibility to watch over little children in your care like a hawk,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said. “Now it is our responsibility to make sure that these defendants are held accountable for this avoidable and heartbreaking tragedy.”
State officials have suspended the day care’s license, according to KTVU FOX 2.
The suspects turned themselves into police on Oct. 13. They will be arraigned on Dec. 6.
The victims were 16- and 18-month-old girls.
A third child, aged 2, was left in critical condition but is expected to make a full recovery.