A grand jury report from Suffolk County found that Child Protective Services should have done more ahead of 8-year-old Thomas Valva's death in 2020.
© Sarah Kloepping/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin / USA TODAY NETWORK
(Hauppauge, NY) – Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney says he’s outraged after a grand jury’s findings have been released — in connection to the death of eight-year-old autistic teen Thomas Valva. The 75-page report shows that nearly a dozen claims of child abuse were deemed “unfounded” by Suffolk County’s Child Protective Services. And that’s despite repeated calls for investigation from the young boy’s mom and teachers.
Tierney spoke after the report’s release Thursday and said: “Had CPS done its job, Thomas Valva would still be alive today. The failures of CPS in this case were hidden by a dysfunctional system. What steps did they take to investigate? Who did they interview? What findings did they make? We have no idea, and we cannot find out because of existing New York State law.”
Reports say Thomas Valva and his older brother were routinely abused at their father’s Center Moriches home, by Michael Valva — a former NYPD cop — and his then fiancée Angela Pollina. The two brothers routinely showed up to school starving, bruised, and soaked in urine. Both the former officer and Pollina have been convicted and sentenced to prison for their roles in the crime.
But no CPS workers will be charged, because case data is shielded from investigators under state confidentiality laws — even if the child dies. DA Tierney says that law needs to change, especially because it could help prevent the future death of a child.
Thomas Valva died by freezing to death in the unheated garage of his dad’s home in January of 2020. Both his father and Pollina are spending 25 years to life in prison.
