No jail time in drowning case

The 22-year-old daughterin-law of Elizabeth Zenda will not see jail for her part in the death of 22-month-old Annie Flynn.

Tanya Zenda of Pittsfield Township pleaded no contest Feb. 13 to a misdemeanor count of child endangering.

As part of a plea agreement, Zenda was sentenced to 30 days in jail, which was suspended.

In lieu of jail, Zenda was placed on basic supervision probation for three years and required to pay $640 in court costs and fines.

Zenda is the daughter-inlaw of Elizabeth Zenda, 50, also of Pittsfield Township, who is serving four years in prison for the October 2016 drowning death of Annie.

Elizabeth Zenda operated an unlicensed day care in her home for six years before the Oct. 5, 2016, incident which saw Annie and her then-21-month-old cousin fall into in her backyard, above ground pool while she and Tanya Zenda sat inside and discussed wedding plans and surfed the social media site Pinterest.

Annie’s cousin survived the incident, but suffered brain damage from his time beneath the water.

The children were able to reach the water due to a seveninch gap beneath the gate leading to the pool.

During Elizabeth Zenda’s brief bench trial before Lorain County Common Pleas Judge James L. Miraldi, it was established she had a habit of allowing children younger than the age of 2 to play outside near the deficient gate while she stayed inside.

She had testified during the trial that she had no child care training beside her own experiences raising her children, and that she and Tanya Zenda weren’t alerted that Annie and her cousin were in danger until Tanya Zenda’s toddler son came into the house wet with pool water leading the women to rush to the yard and attempt to save the children.

Elizabeth Zenda and her husband, David Zenda, and a few other parties are being sued by Annie’s family in Lorain County Common Pleas Court for an excess of $25,000 for negligence and breach of duty.

Zenda