Recently, the property, located at 11 Bittersweet Lane, was listed for an auction scheduled for the same day that Angela Pollina, who was found guilty in his death, was set for sentencing last Tuesday. However, that auction was not found online as of last week.
On Monday, a representative of Floyd Harbor Real Estate in Mastic, who asked not to be identified, confirmed that a buyer had stepped up during a short sale; that sale is pending. However, she said, there was "an issue" with the property and as soon as all is resolved, the sale can proceed.
Matthew Tuohy, Pollina's attorney, also confirmed with Patch that there is now a buyer for the property.
The sale price for the home was not immediately disclosed.
Tannith Osborne of Floyd Harbor Realty, who is handling the sale, could not immediately be reached. The Floyd Harbor Real Estate representative who spoke with Patch said, of the proceeds from the sale, that Osborne was "trying to come up with something to help" the remaining children of Valva and Justyna Zubko-Valva.
The jury reached a unanimous verdict, finding Pollina guilty of second-degree murder in Thomas's death. She was also found guilty of four counts of endangering the welfare of a child.
Pollina was sentenced to 25 years to life Tuesday; 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.
Pollina is the former fiancée of Michael Valva, an ex-NYPD officer convicted of murder in the death of his 8-year-old son Thomas, who died of hypothermia after being forced to sleep in his father's frigid garage.
Valva and Pollina were arrested Jan. 24, 2020, and charged with second-degree murder and four counts of endangering the welfare of a child.
Suffolk Supreme Court Justice Timothy Mazzei at the Arthur M. Cromarty Criminal Court Complex in Riverhead presided over Pollina's 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 also 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 to Pollina. "'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."
According to a post by Xome.com that has since been deleted, the Valva/Pollina home, located at 11 Bittersweet Lane, was initially slated to "sold through the applicable foreclosure auction process," on April 11, at 11 a.m. The in-person auction was to be held at the April foreclosure sale at Brookhaven Town Hall, the site said.
Tuohy said Pollina plans to appeal and that she will "continue to fight."
Teachers and the principal from East Moriches Elementary School offered emotional testimony, as they did in Valva's trial, describing the boys, who came to school bruised, soaked in urine, starving, and always cold. Detectives and others who responded to the home also testified.
There was also evidence shown of texts reflecting Pollina's frustration with the incontinence of Thomas and his older brother and her stating that she did not want them in the house. Valva's defense team painted an image of Valva as a man stressed over finances, who had nowhere to go with his boys if he had to leave the home he shared with Pollina.
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.
Sale Of House Where Thomas Valva Died Listed As Pending - Patch
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