Angela Pollina Sent From Riverhead To Westchester Prison This Week

LONG ISLAND, NY — Angela Pollina, who was sentenced to 25 years to life last week after being convicted of second-degree murder in the death of 8-year-old Thomas Valva — who froze to death after being forced to sleep in his father's frigid Center Moriches garage — has been moved from the Suffolk County Correctional facility to a prison in Westchester County

According to the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, Pollina, 45, was transferred on Wednesday to the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility. She will not be eligible for parole until January 22, 2045.

She was also sentenced to a year each for the other four counts of endangering the welfare of a child. All sentences will run consecutively.

Valva and Pollina were arrested Jan. 24, 2020, and charged with second-degree murder and four counts of endangering the welfare of a child. Each faced 25 years to life in prison, and both pleaded not guilty.

According to a post by New York Focus that discusses the possible transfer of inmates from Rikers Island to the Bedford Hills facility, the conditions theree were less than ideal. At least one inmate said "she was forced to submit to a strip search. She had to ask and receive permission to go to the bathroom, which she could only do at set times. She was only allowed a narrow window of time to eat," according to the post. And, the post continued, prisoners were denied privileges such as regular access to phones.

A request for comment on those conditions by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision was not immediately returned.

When asked for comment, Matthew Tuohy, Pollina's attorney, told Patch Thursday, "Angela is appealing the conviction and the sentence and is exploring all possible legal remedies."

Suffolk Supreme Court Justice Timothy Mazzei at the Arthur M. Cromarty Criminal Court Complex in Riverhead presided over the sentencing. Before sentencing Pollina, he said he'd been aware of the case and the "poor, spineless excuse of a man" — Michael Valva, an ex-NYPD officer who was convicted of second-degree murder and four counts of endangering the welfare of a child in November; he was sentenced to 25 years to life behind bars in December.

"But it wasn't until I saw and heard and did that I think we all realized how evil you really were," Mazzei said. "'Evil' is not the word I came up with — you came up with that word to describe yourself, what you did to those poor little boys."

He added: "You tortured those boys, you tortured them."

Mazzei said he'd looked up the definition of the word "torture" and it said it was something that causes agony or pain, or the infliction of intense pain to punish, coerce or afford sadistic pleasure.

"That's what you did — and never once have you ever shown any sorrow, remorse, or compassion," Mazzei said.

Mazzei then said he'd had the opportunity to visit the prison facility where Pollina will be serving her sentence.

"My only regret, Ms. Pollina, is that they don't have a garage there, that has no mattress, no blanket, no pillow — nothing that belongs in a bedroom — so you that's where you could sleep the rest of your life. That's where you deserve to be the rest of your natural life," Mazzei said.

Those in the courtroom applauded through tears.

Pollina did not speak at the proceedings and showed no emotion when the sentence was announced.

Before the sentencing, Assistant District Attorney Kerriann Kelly spoke to the judge. Looking at Pollina, Kelly said: "Not once did the defendant indicate, in any way, shape or form, that she was sorry for what happened to Thomas Valva, an 8-year-old little boy. Not once. Nothing. That speaks volumes, in my opinion, that's why I recommend a sentence of 35 years to life."

The Nest video and texts shown during the trial, Kelly said, were "the stuff of horror movies. And yet Thomas was just 8 and Anthony, just 10."

Speaking about a photo she'd shown during the trial, of Thomas at school the day before he died, giving a thumb's up and smiling, she said he was still innocent. "He thought goodness and love could return to his life. But what we know from the evidence was that Thomas wasn't surrounded by love — he was surrounded by nothing other than pure evil," Kelly said. "The redness of his hands and cheeks was evidence of that evil."

She said Thomas, exiled to sleeping on the cement floor of a freezing cold garage, was forced to use pullups and wash in the backyard; on the morning Thomas died it was 19 degrees, yet his father forced him outside naked to wash him with water from an icy spigot.

"Thomas was a profile in courage," Kelly said, tears in her voice. "He stared down the faces of evil he endured each day in the faces of his father and this defendant, a mother figure in his life for two years. He battled and fought but ultimately lost the war."

Even on the day he died, Kelly said, Pollina showed Thomas no mercy, screaming at him for an accident in the night. She said Pollina knew Thomas was hypothermic when he kept falling but did nothing and Kelly added that she believes Pollina's testimony about sitting on the garage floor and drying his tears was a lie.

One text revealed Pollina telling Valva that she wanted all books, clothes and blankets out of the garage. "There should not be one thing that belongs in a bedroom in there," she wrote.

Even in prison, Pollina will have a warm bed with blankets, food, recreation, the things that were denied the boys for years, Kelly said.

Tuohy spoke and said she had lived a good life before meeting Valva, had a close relationship with her own family and had worked in the same job for about 20 years. He said, of Pollina, "Obviously, she has tremendous remorse for what happened. It's difficult for her to express it when she's under this kind of scrutiny."

He asked the judge sentence Pollina to 15 years to life. And he also blamed Thomas' death on Valva, as he has since the beginning of the trial. "If Mr. Valva wasn't there, Thomas would still be alive," he said.

After the sentencing, Kelly was able to speak to the media. When asked why she'd called Thomas "a profile in courage," Kelly said, her voice filled with tears:. "I can't go in my garage now without picturing those two little boys. I can't tell you the countless number of times I've watched that video and either seen them curled up on the floor or staring at the camera. It's dark in the garage and you see their little eyes, just looking at the camera."

There was also a life-sized werewolf in that garage which was towering over the two little boys while they laid on the floor, she said.

"So when I say a 'profile in courage,' what courage he had to have to go into that garage every single night and come out every single day and go to school soaked in urine and feces and hold his head up and smile and try really, really hard," Kelly said.

Thomas, she said, did really well in school. He had beautiful handwriting. And he smiled and was happy and loved by his teachers. To be able to do that and continue to learn, despite what he was enduring, she said: "That's courage, to me."

Valva's attorney John LoTurco has also said he will appeal.

Thomas' mother Justyna Zubko-Valva pleaded for help on her Twitter page before her son died. In 2020, Zubko-Valva filed a $200 million wrongful death suit.

Zubko-Valva has not responded to requests for comment.

In June, a judge ruled that portions of the $200 million lawsuit filed by Zubko-Valva after Thomas died can move forward, a judge ruled.