Judge adjusts Gelardi bond

By TARA JENNINGS

Ledger Staff Writer

Dr. Joshua Gelardi will be able to post $75,000 bond in cash instead of using a professional bondsmen after asking Circuit Court Judge J. Derham Cole to reconsider a previous bond set at the Magistrate Court level.

Gelardi, 39, of 218 Sarratt School Road, Gaffney, remains jailed on a charge of 1st-degree criminal sexual conduct on a minor after being charged Thursday by the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office.

If Gelardi posts bond, he must remain on home detention as a condition of the bond, said Seventh Circuit Assistant Solicitor Michael Morin. Cole ruled on the request Tuesday after taking it under advisement Monday afternoon.

Gelardi is accused of sexual battery against his 4-year-old child. His estranged wife, Dr. Beverly Allison Gelardi, 37, of 634 Garvin Lake Road, Gaffney, is charged with child neglect. Police claim she knew about the alleged abuse and failed to notify authorities. She has been released on $50,000 bond.

A stipulation of the original bond set for both of the Gelardis was that a professional bondsmen be used. Cole has decided to allow Dr. Joshua Gelardi to post the entire bond amount in cash.

Both parents have been ordered to have no contact with the children — ages 4, 6, 9, and 11 — and to abide by all Family Court and Department of Social Services (DSS) orders, including an order that they have no contact with each other.

The Gelardis are separated.

The children were taken into emergency protective custody and placed in the care of DSS on Dec. 3 after a Gaffney Police Department officer claimed the Gelardis were mentally abusing the children.

According to Joshua Gelardi’s attorney, Melvin Roberts, Beverly Gelardi visited the Gelardi Straight Chiropractic Office at 209 Brown St., Gaffney, on Dec. 3 and “provoked” her husband with her “temperament and her loud boisterous manner.”

Roberts said his client called 9-1-1 and when authorities arrived, Beverly Gelardi told police that her husband was sexually abusing the youngest child. The attorney claimed Beverly Gelardi concocted the story in advance.