Officials said Vincent Zappa was babysitting an 8-month-old boy when the child was hospitalized with a brain bleed and extensive injuries.
WARREN, Mich. — A child abuse case that began with a 911 call from a babysitter in October 2024 ended this winter with a Macomb County judge sentencing Vincent Zappa to 18 to 30 years in prison, prosecutors said.
The case drew attention because of the age of the victim, the severity of the injuries described by doctors and the long path from charging to trial. Prosecutors said Zappa, now 26, was babysitting his then-girlfriend’s 8-month-old son while she was at work when he called 911 and said the baby was not acting like himself. Hospital staff later found injuries that prosecutors said included an acute subdural hematoma, bruising on multiple parts of the body and more than 100 retinal hemorrhages in both eyes.
The first public chapter came on Oct. 23, 2024, when emergency responders took the infant from a Warren residence to a hospital in critical condition. Prosecutors said the child had a significant brain bleed, and early county statements also described bruising on the head, neck and chest. By Oct. 25, Zappa had been arraigned on a first-degree child abuse charge in district court. The judge set bond at $350,000 cash or surety only, a signal that the court viewed the accusation as severe and the stakes as high. On Nov. 7, 2024, after a probable cause conference, the prosecutor’s office said Zappa had been referred for a psychological evaluation addressing culpability and criminal responsibility. Public materials available through the county did not list more hearings at that point, and the case then moved through a lengthy pretrial period before finally reaching a jury nearly 15 months after the infant was hospitalized.
The trial lasted two weeks before Circuit Judge Joseph Toia. According to the prosecutor’s office, Assistant Prosecutor Colleen Worden presented testimony from several physicians who had treated the child. Their accounts, officials said, described not only the immediate injuries but the long-term effects such trauma can have on a child that young. Prosecutors used especially stark language in their post-trial statements, saying the infant had suffered “devastating injuries,” including an acute subdural hematoma, blood from the mouth and extensive bruising across the body. The public releases do not detail what arguments the defense made to jurors or whether outside experts were called by the defense. They also do not identify the hospital or describe the child’s current condition beyond the initial critical status. Those limits leave some questions open, but the official record is firm on the result: on Jan. 15, 2026, a Macomb County jury found Zappa guilty of first-degree child abuse.
The medical findings were central to why prosecutors framed the case so forcefully. In infant injury cases, courts often rely on specialists to translate medical records into plain language for jurors. Here, officials said the child had more than 100 retinal hemorrhages in both eyes, a severe brain bleed and body bruising that stretched beyond one isolated area. The prosecutor’s office also said there was blood from the mouth. Those details formed the backbone of the state’s narrative and helped explain why the county repeatedly referred to the victim as one of its most vulnerable residents. The official releases did not state whether child protective proceedings ran alongside the criminal case, and no civil action was mentioned. Nor did officials say whether the mother testified, though the county made clear that the abuse occurred while she was at work and Zappa was the baby’s caretaker.
After the guilty verdict, the case moved to sentencing. A county release issued Jan. 16 said Zappa remained in custody and faced a sentencing hearing on Feb. 26, 2026, at 8:30 a.m. That hearing went forward, and Toia sentenced him to 216 to 360 months in prison. The sentence equals 18 to 30 years. Prosecutors said the judge also ordered that Zappa have no contact with the victim or the victim’s family. He must register under Wyatt’s Law, a Michigan database for people convicted of crimes against children. Prosecutor Peter J. Lucido thanked police, medical staff and jurors after both the conviction and the sentence. His office said the jury’s verdict had ensured accountability and that the county would continue to pursue cases involving abuse of children. Public releases available after sentencing did not identify an appeal filing or another scheduled hearing.
The story that emerges from the public record is not broad, but it is clear. A baby was taken to a hospital in critical condition after a day in the care of an adult babysitter. Prosecutors then built a felony case around what doctors found, and jurors accepted that evidence after hearing it over two weeks in court. The county’s statements do not provide scene-by-scene narrative or personal reflections from relatives, and no courtroom comments from the defense appear in the public summaries. Even without those pieces, the timeline shows how one emergency call in Warren became a high-stakes prosecution in Mount Clemens and ended with a sentence measured in decades rather than months.
Where the case stands now is straightforward: the conviction remains in place, the sentence has been imposed and restrictions on contact with the child and family are part of the judgment. No additional court date was listed in the county’s Feb. 26 announcement, making any appeal the next possible public development without a date yet attached.
Author note: Last updated March 25, 2026.