Wednesday
September 18, 2024 
Anna Maria Tolomello was sentenced Tuesday to 18 to 40 years in state prison for the 2022 murder of longtime partner Giovanni Gallina in their home in Hilltown.
Tolomello, 51, pleaded guilty in April to third-degree murder, tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse.
Hilltown Township Police and Bucks County Detectives said they charged Tolomello with shooting and killing the 65-year-old Gallina in March of 2022.
The two operated Pina’s Pizza in Chalfont. Prior to sentencing, Common Pleas Judge Gary B. Gilman heard an impact statement written by Gallina’s children, according to a statement from the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office. In it, his children described Gallina as a hard-working man, who was loved by all. They also said Tolomello’s actions were “motivated by greed.”
“All his hard work was for his family, his grandchildren and the future,” the letter read. “That legacy was destroyed by someone who only thought of themself.”
The investigation reportedly began when Gallina’s son told police he hadn’t heard from his father since March 16, 2022, and was unable to reach him. Tolomello said Gallina was out of town and, police said, she never reported him missing to any law enforcement agency. Police went to the couple’s home and reportedly found Gallina’s body wrapped in a blue tarp inside the home’s main bedroom.
At sentencing Gilman, noting forensic evidence, suggested the defendant was using gambling apps on her phone within an hour of the killing, said the statement from the district attorney’s office, which quoted the judge as characterizing Tolomello’s behavior after the killing as “heinous.”
Following the sentencing, Chief Deputy District Attorney Christopher Rees praised investigators at Hilltown and the county for recognizing that “something seemed wrong” and for taking “steps to ensure that justice was done.”
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