Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Caretaker of Hvizda children charged in thefts
Stephen Fuimano allegedly stole from funds meant to benefit children in his custory
EAST CALN » A Uwchlan man who took custody of three children after their mother was fatally stabbed by their father has been charged with allegedly stealing thousands of dollars from the children that was supposed to go toward their future.
Stephen T. Fuimano was arrested by Chester County Detectives in October, and charged with several counts of theft for allegedly taking money from a fund set up for the children of Kimberly Hvizda and using it to pay personal debts; for pocketing money from the sale of a van that was to be used to transport the children; and for keeping a number of Social Security benefit checks meant for the trio, even after they had stopped living with him and his wife.
Kimberly Hvizda was murdered in March 2012 by her estranged husband, James Hvizda, a former minor league baseball pitcher, against whom she had a protection from abuse order. He stabbed her with a large hunting knife as she met him in the parking lot of the Wawa store in Upper Uwchlan, where she worked. Afterwards, he walked to the nearby township police depart-
ment headquarters and confessed to killing her.
On Wednesday, Fuimano, a local contractor, waived his scheduled preliminary hearing before Magisterial District Judge Jeffery Vallocchi of East Caln. His case will now be transferred to Common Pleas Court for trial.
Fuimano, 44, did not address the court during the brief proceeding. Neither the prosecutor handling the case, Assistant District Attorney Tanner Jacobs, nor Fuimano’s attorney, Peter Scuderi of Philadelphia, made mention of the specifics of the case. Fuimano remains free on unsecured bail of $50,000.
Scuderi declined comment on the case when approached by a reporter outside Valocchi’s court.
According to a criminal complaint filed by county Detective Benjamin Martin in September, Fuimano and his wife, Kimberly Fuimano, agreed to take in Kimberly Hvizda’s three children with James Hvizda after her death and to care for them. (Another child, Kimberly Hvizda’s teenage daughter, went to live with her father.) The Fuimano’s were already caring for six children of their own; Kimberly Fuimano was a close friend of Kimberly Hvizda.
But in 2014, the Fuimano’s gave up custody of the children to other families, including relatives of Kimberly Hvizda’s in Georgia. The children, who were between the ages of 1 and 6 when their mother was killed, were eventually separated, and have since been adopted by other families in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, according to court records.
Martin wrote that Stephen Fuimano stole money from the children, both while he was caring for them and afterwards. The investigation began in August 2015, when an attorney representing one of the children in a civil case contacted Chief Deputy District Attorney Ronald Yen and expressed concern that money for the three children was being misappropriated.
Following her murder, a number of fundraising efforts were undertaken by people in the community to help the children’s future financial needs, since their father was in prison — eventually being sentenced to life without parole. Wawa, the regional convenience store chain, contributed $10,000 and asked customers for donations because Kimberly Hvizda was an employee and part of its corporate “family.” An event at a popular Eagle restaurant in November 2012 raised more than $19,000 for the children.
Martin discovered that Fuimano had written two checks in 2014 totaling $25,000 from the account set up for the children at TD Bank, characterizing them as “business loans.” But the funds never went into Fuimano’s business account, and instead were deposited in his personal account. Martin said the bulk of the funds was used to pay off credit card debt. Fuimano later repaid $24,000 of the “loan” to the children’s account.
In October 2012, Fuimano purchased a 12-passenger van from a Nissan dealership in Bucks County to use for transporting the Hvizda children and his own, mixing funds from his own accounts and those from the children’s account. He deposited $19,550 toward the van, plus a trade in of a van owned by Kimberly Hvizda that Martin said was illegally transferred to Fuimano by her father, Robert Kleiser. A total of $11,191 of the children’s funds was put toward the van’s purchase.
But in October 2014, five months after the Hvizda children had left his home, Fuimano sold the van to an Exton dealership for $23,490. Instead of repaying the children’s fund the $11,191 he had used to purchase the van, Fuimano kept he money for his own use.
Finally, Fuimano acknowledged receiving Social Security checks meant for the three children from May 2014 to December 2014, a total of 14 payments amounting to $7,938. The Fuimanos had no expenses that could be tied to the children at the time, and none of the Social Security funds were given to the people who were taking care of the children at the time, Martin declared.
In all, Martin’s complaint listed $44,557 in funds that Fuimano improperly took from the children’s interests. After deducting the $24,000 that Fuimano had repaid from the “loan,” the total is $20,557.
At James Hvizda’s sentencing hearing in 2012, the Fuimanos spoke about how they hoped to “love and care” for the children and not to let their mother’s memory die. But two years later, the children — ages 8, 6, and 4, — were moved from the Fuimano’s home and placed in custody with strangers.
When contacted at the time, Fuimano refused to discuss details of the change, except to say that it was not a financial decision.
“I am a millionaire. I never needed the money (raised for the children),” he said.
He is charged with felony theft by unlawful taking, theft of property lost, theft by failure to make required disposition of funds, and receiving stolen property.
A waiver of a defendant’s right to a preliminary hearing is sometime seen as a signal that the accused does not intend to contest the charges against him. Those who waive the hearing are given consideration by the prosecution in what plea offer is presented to them.