Judge denies request for change in $1M bond on woman accused in Greensburg Beverage estate theft

A 26-year-old Murrysville woman accused of participating in a scheme to defraud her aunt of a $4.4 million estate settlement will remain in the Westmoreland County Prison after she lost her bid Monday to have her $1 million bond reduced.

Angela Lynne Valesky was returned to the prison after Westmoreland County Judge Michael J. Stewart denied Valesky’s request.

The judge said Valesky would be a flight risk if she could post a reduced bond because she could have access to the money she is accused of stealing. The judge also noted Valesky would not have a place to live because the Export residence where defense attorney Patrick Thomassey said she could reside is padlocked.

Stewart noted Judge Christopher Feliciani did not reduce her bond in January.

Angela Valesky is accused of conspiring with her mother, Lisa A. Skatell-Valesky, 51, of Jeannette in taking the inheritance due to the elder Valesky’s sister, Jennifer Skatell-Knopp of Florida. Mother and daughter have been held in prison on $1 million bond since January on charges of dealing in the proceeds of unlawful activity, retail theft, conspiracy, forgery and perjury.

Thomassey argued Angela Valesky’s bond should be modified because she has a history of appearing for court proceedings, does not pose a threat to society and is accused of a nonviolent crime.

“One million bond amounts to no bond,” Thomassey said. Instead, electronic home monitoring or a $500,000 bond would be reasonable, he told the judge.

Assistant District Attorney Steve Reddy said, however, that the Export residence allegedly was purchased through a third party by using about $500,000 from the estate and Valesky could use money from the alleged theft to post the reduced bond. All of the money taken from the estate in 2022 has not been recovered, Reddy said.

The $4.4 million due Skatell-Knopp was from the estate of her mother, Bette Iannuzzo, who had been CEO of the former Greensburg Beverage, succeeding her late husband in 2013. Skatell-Valesky was to have received $193,200 from her mother’s estate, police said.

In a December 2022 hearing on the disbursement of the estate, police believe another woman, possibly Skatell-Valesky, may have posed as Skatell-Knopp by telephone. Skatell-Knopp said she was not involved in that hearing and did not give her sister the authority to represent her at the hearing.

In arguing for modifying the bond, Thomassey said Angela Valesky’s “physical appearance is terrible,” with her weight at only about 88 pounds.

But Westmoreland County Detective Ray Dupilka said his discussion with prison staff revealed Valesky was not eating. Dupilka said Warden Steve Polesky confronted Valesky about not eating and told her she would be sent to a medical ward at a state prison, where she would receive nourishment and might be fed through a feeding tube. She then began eating and put on weight, Dupilka said.

“Her deliberate efforts not to eat would not result in her release,” Dupilka said.

Valesky does not have a trial date listed in court documents. Her mother is scheduled for an Oct. 6 trial before Stewart.