Sini Convenes Grand Jury To Investigate Thomas Valva's Death

CENTER MORICHES, NY — Suffolk County District Attorney Tim Sini announced Monday that he planned to convene a special grand jury to investigate all the circumstances surrounding the death of Thomas Valva, 8, who froze to death after police said his father and his father's fiancee forced him to spend the night in a frigid Center Moriches garage.

On Jan. 24, Suffolk County homicide detectives arrested Michael Valva, 40, and Valva's fiancée, Angela Pollina, 42, of Bittersweet Lane in Center Moriches. Both were charged with second-degree murder and four counts of endangering the welfare of a child, police said.

They pleaded not guilty; both are being held without bail. If convicted, the couple faces 25 years to life in prison.

Although his father initially reported that Thomas died after a fall in the driveway, gruesome details emerged at a press conference by Suffolk County Police Commissioner Geraldine Hart.
Thomas Valva officially died of hypothermia, according to the Suffolk County Medical Examiner, Hart said. "We believe that he was kept in the garage overnight preceding his death," Hart said, adding that when he was found, the boy's body temperature was 76 degrees and he had head and facial injuries that did not align with Valva's account of what had happened.

On Monday, Sini today released said immediately following Thomas' tragic death, he assembled a team of expert prosecutors in the area of child abuse and child fatalities to investigate the circumstances surrounding what happened to the boy.

That investigation he said, "is ongoing and has since resulted in criminal indictments against two defendants, Michael Valva and Angela Pollina. Based on our investigation to date, which has involved the review of voluminous records and the interview of numerous witnesses, it is clear that it is appropriate and in the public’s interest to convene a special grand jury to conduct a thorough investigation of all the circumstances surrounding the death of Thomas Valva, which will have the legal ability to issue a special grand jury report at the culmination of that investigation."

Sini said he has instructed his team to begin the process of working with the court to convene such that grand jury.

“I recently unveiled the CPS Transformation Act to help reform a broken system that failed to protect Thomas Valva," said Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone. "I applaud District Attorney Tim Sini for convening a special grand jury and I am confident this action will be a catalyst to implement additional, necessary reforms.”

"A house of horrors"

After the indictments were unsealed in February, Sini held a press conference. "This is a horrific case. Years of . . abuse and neglect that most of us, all of us, cannot wrap our heads around which tragically culminated in the death of Thomas," Sini said.

All aspects of the case are being thoroughly investigated, he said, including all the circumstances surrounding the case, including putting together a thorough timeline of all contact the family had with any governmental agency.

"What happened here is heinous. It's clearly a house of horrors. A child is dead — and we simply can't understand how this could happen. How another human being could do this — much less as human being to their own child," Sini said.

Last week, a new court-appointed attorney for Michael Valva said the boy's death was "nightmarish" but "accidental." Attorney John LoTurco of Garden City was appointed to represent Valva.

LoTurco said, in a statement to Patch, that Thomas had actually been in an unlocked garage with a large, electric space heater that was attached to the family home. "The boys had access to the interior of the home," he said.

Thomas and Anthony were undernourished, begging for food, and foraging through the garbage at school and for crumbs because they were "so hungry," Assistant District Attorney Keriann Kelly said, as she painted a verbal image in court of the house where Thomas died. The boys, she said, were physically abused; during one incident, Pollina "dragged Thomas and threw him down the stairs," Kelly said. They were sent to school in urine-soaked soiled diapers, she said.

Attorney says Valva can't get a fair trial

On Thursday, LoTurco fired back: "First and foremost, Michael Valva is emotionally distraught over the death of his beloved son, Thomas Valva," he wrote in a statement. "However, we strongly contend that this was a nightmarish, accidental death and not a depraved indifference murder."
Valva, he said, is now being portrayed as a "monster, when in actuality he is a caring father of his three boys and his fiance's three daughters. The media, his estranged wife, and the Suffolk County District Attorney has vilified him and sensationalized the story," he said.

On the night Thomas died, Kelly said, it was 19 degrees outside and he was left in the freezing garage with no blankets; he died of hypothermia when his organs failed, Kelly said.
When he was found, Thomas was naked except for a pair of sweatpants pulled down below his knees, Kelly said.

When asked about how he was, after authorities arrived, Valva reportedly said, "I've been through more stressful things than this," Kelly said.

LoTurco said, moving forward, additional facts and surveillance video will be released that will show that Thomas' death was "purely accidental and not caused by the alleged depraved indifference murderous actions of our client."

On Wednesday, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone announced the results of an internal review of Department of Social Services' procedures and procedures sparked by Thomas' death and said the system did not protect autistic children. He outlined reforms to prevent future tragedy.

Thomas' death has been the catalyst for an outpouring of grief among those who knew him and complete strangers, with hundreds who have come together to honor him at vigils, fundraisers and at his funeral. Many have demanded change, questioning how his case fell through the cracks despite reported calls and complaints about suspected abuse.