Horrific Texts From NYPD Dad Of Autistic Boy Who Froze To Death In Garage Expose Abuse
Feb. 7 2020, Updated 5:23 p.m. ET
The NYPD dad who caused his autistic son’s death by leaving him to freeze in the garage of his home showed his disdain for the boy in disturbing text messages exposed by prosecutors.
The messages from Michael Valva to fiancée Angela Pollina, showing the abuse, were read in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead on Thursday, February 6.
“I have zero clothing for him,” Michael, 40, texted Angela, 42, two days before son Thomas’ death.
According to investigators, Michael often forced the boy and his older brother, Anthony, to sleep in the ice-cold garage — which often dropped to under 20 degrees — without sheets, pillows or heat.
“F**k a piece of s**t Thomas,” Michael wrote in another text. “He's not going anywhere.”
RadarOnline.com readers know Thomas, 8, died on January 17, after being forced to sleep in the garage and contracting hypothermia. Surveillance cameras in the home captured horrific footage of the boy struggling to walk and “face-planting” on the garage’s cement floor, moments before falling unconscious, according to prosecutors.
In audio from the surveillance footage, Thomas’ brother is heard asking Michael why the boy is falling and unable to walk. “Because he’s cold. Boo f***ing hoo,” he replies. “When you’re washed with cold water and it’s freezing, you get hypothermia.”
That day, Michael called Suffolk County police to report that Thomas had fallen in the driveway while waiting for the school bus. When paramedics arrived, however, they found the boy had a body temperature of 76 degrees. He was rushed to a local hospital but pronounced dead soon after.
When informed by hospital staff of his son’s death, Michael replied: “’I’ve been through more stressful things than this,’” according to Suffolk County prosecutor Kerriann Kelly, who read the monster dad’s text messages in court.
Kelly also said that after Michael called EMTs to his home to help his already-dead son, Angela went into the bathroom to fix her hair and arrived at the hospital 45 minutes later.
Thomas’ death was ruled a homicide, and after conducting an investigation and viewing Michael’s security camera footage, police arrested the NYPD officer and charged him and Angela with second-degree murder. They’ve both pleaded not guilty.
Kelly accused Michael and Angela of treating Thomas and Anthony, 10, “in a manner that was nothing short of cruel, callous, wanton and evil.”
“The boys were undernourished,” she said. “They were literally begging for food at school, eating the crumbs off the table, eating out of the garbage cans.”
The former police officer lived in a house in Center Moriches, Long Island, with Angela and six children: Michael’s three boys and Angela’s three girls. The two living boys are now under the custody of their biological mother, Justyna Zubko-Valva, who broke down in court when speaking of Thomas’ death. The girls are now under the custody of their biological fathers.
“What happened to my son is a clear instance of enormous corruption within the system,” Zubko-Valva said through tears, blasting authorities for failing to rescue her son despite her many complaints that he was being abused by his father.
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“The people involved have Thomas' blood on their hands,” she added.
Zubko-Valva laid her son to rest on January 30, after holding a visitation for him on January 29. Since then, she’s posted various tributes to him on her Twitter account @StandAgainstChildAbuse.
