Pool Mom Update: Charge Reduced, Released on Bond, and a Very Ironic Past

Remember the mom who held a 6-year-old underwater at the Gaylord Palms Resort pool? The one who spent Christmas in jail facing felony child abuse charges? Yeah, she's out.

Tiffany Griffith, 36, bonded out of the Osceola County Jail on Christmas Eve night after a judge set her bond at $20,000. Her husband William was waiting for her. She walked out around 10:30 p.m. with her face covered, said nothing to the cameras, and got into their truck.

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The Charge Was Reduced

Before the bond hearing, prosecutors dropped the charge from aggravated child abuse to third-degree child abuse. That's a significant reduction. Her defense attorney, Zach Cantor, called the whole case "absurd" and argued it should have been misdemeanor battery at most.

"The idea that she's been held this long is a travesty, your honor," Cantor told the judge.

The state pushed back. Assistant State Attorney Jennifer Synnamon wasn't buying the mama bear defense.

The court played the surveillance video from the resort. It showed Griffith entering the pool, splashing water at the children, then grabbing the 6-year-old by the shoulders and holding him underwater. The boy came out crying with a bloody nose.

The Husband Testified

William Griffith took the stand on his wife's behalf. He said the alleged victim had been bullying their autistic, nonverbal son before the video started rolling.

"Prior to that video, there was a child in the pool that repeatedly held my son under water, dunked him," William testified. "Tiffany and I basically looked at each other and asked where this kid's parents were. Why weren't they watching him?"

The judge, John Beamer, ultimately rejected the state's push to keep her locked up. He found her actions were an overreaction, but appeared "isolated and reactionary." Bond set at $20,000. She's out.

Now Here's Where It Gets Ironic

Griffith mentioned in her arrest that she's a former law enforcement officer. That checked out. The Punta Gorda Police Department confirmed that Tiffany Lee Viola (her maiden name) worked for them from 2013 to 2018.

Her job? School resource officer.

In 2016, she was named Employee of the Quarter. That same year, she was photographed in a classroom speaking to high school freshmen about the negative consequences of bullying and sexting.

A former SRO who taught kids about bullying is now charged with child abuse for allegedly dunking someone else's kid underwater.

You can't make this stuff up.

What's Next

Griffith's bond conditions: no contact with the victim or his family, no returning to the Gaylord Palms, and no alcohol. No future court date has been set yet.

The charge is still there. Third-degree child abuse isn't nothing. But she's home, not in jail, and the case has shifted dramatically from where it was four days ago.

We'll keep watching.