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Ex-Judges Indicted For Racketeering By Leo Strupczewski and
Hank Grezlak The indictment, a copy of which was not available at press time Wednesday, comes about five-and-a-half weeks after a federal judge rejected the conditional plea agreements of Michael T. Conahan and Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. and nearly two weeks after the men withdrew their conditional guilty pleas in the matter. The indictment charges Conahan and Ciavarella with fraud, money laundering, extortion, bribery and federal tax violations while alleging they received "millions of dollars in illegal payments," according to Dennis C. Pfannenschmidt, U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. Each charge is related to the judges' ties to two juvenile detention facilities: PA Child Care and Western PA Child Care. The indictment also seeks forfeiture of more than $2.8 million — an amount the government alleges were proceeds from the judges' criminal activity. That amount is slightly higher than the $2.6 million the judges originally admitted to accepting in their conditional plea agreements. Conahan's attorney, Philip Gelso, could not be immediately reached for comment. Neither could Ciavarella's attorney, Al Flora. The indictment is the latest twist in a story that has seen several since late summer. Conahan and Ciavarella made a joint filing Aug. 20, petitioning U.S. District Judge Edwin M. Kosik to reinstate their agreed-upon sentence of 87 months in prison because neither could be found at fault for his post-plea hearing actions. Kosik rejected that Aug. 24. That same day, the former judges withdrew their guilty pleas and formally entered pleas of not guilty to the charges. Kosik threw out the plea agreements July 31, citing, in part, Conahan and Ciavarella's conduct following the announcement they had agreed to plead guilty to federal fraud charges and their refusal to accept responsibility for the crimes they had committed. Ciavarella's public comments were self-serving, he said, and Conahan was being obstructionist. In his Aug. 24 order, Kosik said in light of the presentence report and sentencing recommendation from the probation office, it was within his discretion to throw out the plea agreements. The probation officer's "assessment and justification for the recommendation" was partly the basis for Kosik's earlier conclusions that Conahan was obstructing justice, failing to discuss the motivation behind his conduct and failing to accept responsibility for his crimes, he said. "The probation recommendation characterized these failures by Conahan as based on his 'scandalous conduct,'" Kosik wrote in his Aug. 24 order. "The defense claims that a defendant is not required to admit relevant conduct beyond the offense of conviction. The court generally agrees, but the defendant was expected to admit relevant conduct related to the scandalous nature of the offense of conviction." In a telling footnote, Kosik said he had met with Conahan and Ciavarella's lawyers twice and rejected reconsidering the plea agreements both times. He said federal prosecutors as well as the defense attorneys had urged him to reconsider the plea deals. Both sides offered to meet with him separately "to explain each side's reasons for entering into the plea agreement," Kosik said. "The offer was rejected by the court because such a meeting might impermissibly involve the court in plea bargaining," he said. Later in the body of his opinion, Kosik said: "It ill behooves both parties to want the court to consider additional reasons to be conveyed in private." While the government's press release made no mention of any charges beyond those related to the juvenile detention center, several sources said they expected the government to come back at some point with a superseding indictment seeking additional charges against Conahan and Ciavarella. While the federal government's case against the former judges centers on their roles in taking money from attorney Robert Powell, the owner, and Robert Mericle, the builder, of a juvenile detention facility and the judges' alleged abuse of the rights of juveniles sentenced to the facility, sources close to the investigation and inside Luzerne County say the scam some in the media have labeled "kids for cash" was just the tip of the iceberg andonly the most blatant example of the corruption allegedly overseen by the two judges. The Legal has previously reported Conahan's ties to admitted felons, including reputed mob boss William "Billy" D'Elia. Multiple sources have said that Conahan and his father also had links to Joseph Scalleat and Michael "Hoppy" Carsia. According to a former member of the now-defunct Pennsylvania Crime Commission, Scalleat and Carsia ran the mob in Hazleton for years. The Legal has also previously reported that federal investigators are looking at allegations of case-fixing in Luzerne County, particularly UM/UIM arbitration cases, as well as criminal case-fixing. Bad Judges Lose Bid to Keep Plea Deal By The Associated Press Two former Pennsylvania judges who pleaded guilty to fraud have lost their bid to keep their plea agreement in place. Former Luzerne County judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan were charged in January with taking millions of dollars in kickbacks to place youth offenders in privately owned detention centers. Their plea agreements with prosecutors had called for sentences of more than seven years in prison. A federal judge ruled last month that the two haven't accepted responsibility for their actions and threw out the plea agreement. The judge on Monday rejected their bid to get him to change his mind. Corrupt Judges' Plea Deals Rejected By Hank Grezlak and Leo
Strupczewski PHILADELPHIA - The federal judge responsible for overseeing the sentencing of two former Luzerne County judges who have pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges has rejected the judges' plea agreements. U.S. Middle District Judge Edwin M. Kosik's stunning order rejecting the plea deals of Michael T. Conahan and Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. was posted late Friday afternoon and dated July 30. Kosik said he could not accept the plea agreements in light of the judges' refusal to accept responsibility for the crimes they had committed. "In light of the post-guilty plea conduct and expressions from the defendants that contradict some offense conduct, the negotiated pleas, which were grounded in the good faith of the government, are well below the sentencing guidelines for the charged offenses," Kosik wrote in his five-page order. "We paraphrase what has been written about judges, that, above all things, integrity is their lot and proper value, the landmark, and he that removes it, corrupts the fountain. In this case, the fountain from which the public drinks is confidence in the judicial system — a fountain which may be corrupted for a time well after this case." According to the order, Kosik will hold a hearing, during which Conahan and Ciavarella can either withdraw their guilty pleas or accept a potentially stiffer sentence from Kosik. In addition, Kosik said the parties had 10 days to waive the hearing in writing. What happens next is uncertain. One source said the government might come back with a superseding indictment against the former judges seeking additional charges. Sources have been telling The Legal for months there was a good chance Kosik would not accept the plea agreements. Several sources late Friday said they were not surprised by Kosik's decision, although upon hearing the news, some said: "Wow!" Kosik expressed displeasure with both former judges, but it was Conahan's objections to the pre-sentence report that brought the brunt of Kosik's ire. He said Conahan filed "several sets of objections." "The most recent revised objections, which remain unresolved, total some twelve which address more than one paragraph of the pre-sentence report," Kosik said. While he did not provide details about the objections, Kosik said some of them are denials of the "receipts of money." "The report represents that defendant Conahan refused to discuss the motivation behind his conduct, attempted to obstruct and impede justice, and failed to clearly demonstrate affirmative acceptance of responsibility with his denials and contradiction of evidence, which is essential to the tenor of the government's case," Kosik said. Ciavarella, the judge wrote, was less obstructive. Instead, Kosik took issue with Ciavarella's public remarks — which have been frequent as of late — that his actions did not amount to a "quid pro quo." The government had an "abundance of evidence" detailing a "routine deprivation of children's constitutional rights," Kosik wrote. He further wrote that the government's evidence described Ciavarella's role in the juvenile detention facility as having "helped to create [it] in return for a 'finder's fee.'" "Such denials are self serving and abundantly contradicted by the evidence the government proffers as offense conduct," Kosik wrote. Ciavarella's attorney, Al Flora, could not be reached for comment late Friday. Conahan's attorney, Philip Gelso, could not be reached for comment. Heidi Havens, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, said in a statement that the office is reviewing Kosik's order and determining the "appropriate court of action." She had no further comment, except that the office remains committed to "achieving the goal which we have pursued from the outset of this case, justice for the people of Luzerne County." Sources have said that Conahan and Ciavarella effectively controlled the county for years and ruled through fear and intimidation, overseeing widespread corruption, including rampant case-fixing and payoffs. While the federal government's case against the former judges centers on their roles in taking money from attorney Robert Powell, the owner, and Robert Mericle, the builder, of a juvenile detention facility and the judges' alleged abuse of the rights of juveniles sentenced to the facility, sources close to the investigation and inside Luzerne County say the scam some in the media have labeled "kids for cash" was just the tip of the iceberg and only the most blatant example of the corruption overseen by the two judges. Luzerne County Commissioner Stephen A. Urban said that "when it came to people, budgets and personnel" he always thought Conahan and Ciavarella "got whatever they wanted, unjustly." "They never had to justify anything," he said. "I think some people felt like the courts controlled the county," Urban said. "I felt that way sometimes, too. I think people were afraid to challenge them." The two judges ran the courthouse like a mafia family, according to several sources. And while The Legal has previously reported Conahan's ties to admitted felons, including reputed mob boss William "Billy" D'Elia, multiple sources have said that Conahan's links to organized crime go back decades. Sources have linked Conahan and his father to Joseph Scalleat and Michael "Hoppy" Carsia. According to a former member of the now-defunct Pennsylvania Crime Commission, Scalleat and Carsia ran the mob in Hazleton, where the Conahans hailed from, for years. Both Scalleat and Carsia are mentioned in several of the commission's reports. James Kanavy, the former special agent-in-charge of the commission's Northeast Region, said Scalleat was the "political guy" and set the big-picture, while Carsia ran day-to-day operations on the street. Scalleat, he said, was a member of the Philadelphia crime family and Carsia worked for Scalleat. The Legal has previously reported that federal investigators are looking at allegations of case-fixing in Luzerne County, particularly UM/UIM arbitration cases, as well as criminal case-fixing. Admitted felon Robert Kulick testified during a special hearing in early July that he and D'Elia met regularly with Conahan to fix cases. At that same hearing, a county security guard, Patty Benzi, testified that she ran envelopes from D'Elia and Kulick to Conahan, though she also testified that she had no knowledge of the contents of the envelopes. Sources have told The Legal that Benzi was not alone in running envelopes from D'Elia to Conahan. An investigation by The Legal has shown that parties with ties to the two judges often won favorable rulings when challenging their tax assessments, particularly the builder of juvenile detention facility PA Child Care, Mericle. In addition, as The Legal first reported in March, multiple sources have said the federal government is investigating whether Luzerne County Common Pleas Court Judge Michael Toole allegedly took a payment from Powell.
Judges Plead Guilty in Payoffs for Jailing Youths By Ian Urbina and Sean D.
Hamill At worst, Hillary Transue thought she might get a stern lecture when she appeared before a judge for building a spoof MySpace page mocking the assistant principal at her high school in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. She was a stellar student who had never been in trouble, and the page stated clearly at the bottom that it was just a joke. Instead, the judge sentenced her to three months at a juvenile detention center on a charge of harassment. She was handcuffed and taken away as her stunned parents stood by. "I felt like I had been thrown into some surreal sort of nightmare," said Hillary, 17, who was sentenced in 2007. "All I wanted to know was how this could be fair and why the judge would do such a thing." The answers became a bit clearer on Thursday as the judge, Mark A. Ciavarella Jr., and a colleague, Michael T. Conahan, appeared in federal court in Scranton, Pa., to plead guilty to wire fraud and income tax fraud for taking more than $2.6 million in kickbacks to send teenagers to two privately run youth detention centers run by PA Child Care and a sister company, Western PA Child Care. While prosecutors say that Judge Conahan, 56, secured contracts for the two centers to house juvenile offenders, Judge Ciavarella, 58, was the one who carried out the sentencing to keep the centers filled. "In my entire career, I’ve never heard of anything remotely approaching this," said Senior Judge Arthur E. Grim, who was appointed by the State Supreme Court this week to determine what should be done with the estimated 5,000 juveniles who have been sentenced by Judge Ciavarella since the scheme started in 2003. Many of them were first-time offenders and some remain in detention. The case has shocked Luzerne County, an area in northeastern Pennsylvania that has been battered by a loss of industrial jobs and the closing of most of its anthracite coal mines. And it raised concerns about whether juveniles should be required to have counsel either before or during their appearances in court and whether juvenile courts should be open to the public or child advocates. If the court agrees to the plea agreement, both judges will serve 87 months in federal prison and resign from the bench and bar. They are expected to be sentenced in the next several months. Lawyers for both men declined to comment. Since state law forbids retirement benefits to judges convicted of a felony while in office, the judges would also lose their pensions. With Judge Conahan serving as president judge in control of the budget and Judge Ciavarella overseeing the juvenile courts, they set the kickback scheme in motion in December 2002, the authorities said. They shut down the county-run juvenile detention center, arguing that it was in poor condition, the authorities said, and maintained that the county had no choice but to send detained juveniles to the newly built private detention centers. Prosecutors say the judges tried to conceal the kickbacks as payments to a company they control in Florida. Though he pleaded guilty to the charges Thursday, Judge Ciavarella has denied sentencing juveniles who did not deserve it or sending them to the detention centers in a quid pro quo with the centers. But Assistant United States Attorney Gordon A. Zubrod said after the hearing that the government continues to charge a quid pro quo. "We’re not negotiating that, no," Mr. Zubrod said. "We’re not backing off." No charges have been filed against executives of the detention centers. Prosecutors said the investigation into the case was continuing. For years, youth advocacy groups complained that Judge Ciavarella was unusually harsh. He sent a quarter of his juvenile defendants to detention centers from 2002 to 2006, compared with a state rate of 1 in 10. He also routinely ignored requests for leniency made by prosecutors and probation officers. "The juvenile system, by design, is intended to be a less punitive system than the adult system, and yet here were scores of children with very minor infractions having their lives ruined," said Marsha Levick, a lawyer with the Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center. "There was a culture of intimidation surrounding this judge and no one was willing to speak up about the sentences he was handing down." Last year, the Juvenile Law Center, which had raised concerns about Judge Ciavarella in the past, filed a motion to the State Supreme Court about more than 500 juveniles who had appeared before the judge without representation. The court originally rejected the petition, but recently reversed that decision. The United States Supreme Court ruled in 1967 that children have a constitutional right to counsel. But in Pennsylvania, as in 20 other states, children can waive counsel, and about half of the children that Judge Ciavarella sentenced had chosen to do so. Only Illinois, New Mexico and North Carolina require juveniles to have representation when they appear before judges. Clay Yeager, the former director of the Office of Juvenile Justice in Pennsylvania, said typical juvenile proceedings are kept closed to the public to protect the privacy of children. "But they are kept open to probation officers, district attorneys, and public defenders, all of whom are sworn to protect the interests of children," he said. "It’s pretty clear those people didn’t do their jobs." On Thursday in Federal District Court in Scranton, more than 80 people packed every available seat in the courtroom. At one point, as Assistant United States Attorney William S. Houser explained to Judge Edwin M. Kosik that the government was willing to reach a plea agreement with the men because the case involved "complex charges that could have resulted in years of litigation," one man sitting in the audience said "bull" loud enough to be heard by most of the courtroom. The antipathy continued as Judge Conahan and Judge Ciavarella, who are free on bond, left the courthouse, where a dozen or so people gathered to jeer at them as they rushed into waiting vehicles. One of the parents at the hearing was Susan Mishanski of Hanover Township. Her son, Kevin, now 18, was sentenced to 90 days in a detention facility last year in a simple assault case that everyone had told her would result in probation, since Kevin had never been in trouble before and the boy he hit merely had a black eye. "It’s horrible to have your
child taken away in shackles right in front of you when you think
you’re going home with him," she said. "It was nice to see them
sitting on the other side of the bench." Judges Plead Guilty in Payoffs for Jailing Youths By Ian Urbina and Sean D.
Hamill At worst, Hillary Transue thought she might get a stern lecture when she appeared before a judge for building a spoof MySpace page mocking the assistant principal at her high school in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. She was a stellar student who had never been in trouble, and the page stated clearly at the bottom that it was just a joke. Instead, the judge sentenced her to three months at a juvenile detention center on a charge of harassment. She was handcuffed and taken away as her stunned parents stood by. "I felt like I had been thrown into some surreal sort of nightmare," said Hillary, 17, who was sentenced in 2007. "All I wanted to know was how this could be fair and why the judge would do such a thing." The answers became a bit clearer on Thursday as the judge, Mark A. Ciavarella Jr., and a colleague, Michael T. Conahan, appeared in federal court in Scranton, Pa., to plead guilty to wire fraud and income tax fraud for taking more than $2.6 million in kickbacks to send teenagers to two privately run youth detention centers run by PA Child Care and a sister company, Western PA Child Care. While prosecutors say that Judge Conahan, 56, secured contracts for the two centers to house juvenile offenders, Judge Ciavarella, 58, was the one who carried out the sentencing to keep the centers filled. "In my entire career, I’ve never heard of anything remotely approaching this," said Senior Judge Arthur E. Grim, who was appointed by the State Supreme Court this week to determine what should be done with the estimated 5,000 juveniles who have been sentenced by Judge Ciavarella since the scheme started in 2003. Many of them were first-time offenders and some remain in detention. The case has shocked Luzerne County, an area in northeastern Pennsylvania that has been battered by a loss of industrial jobs and the closing of most of its anthracite coal mines. And it raised concerns about whether juveniles should be required to have counsel either before or during their appearances in court and whether juvenile courts should be open to the public or child advocates. If the court agrees to the plea agreement, both judges will serve 87 months in federal prison and resign from the bench and bar. They are expected to be sentenced in the next several months. Lawyers for both men declined to comment. Since state law forbids retirement benefits to judges convicted of a felony while in office, the judges would also lose their pensions. With Judge Conahan serving as president judge in control of the budget and Judge Ciavarella overseeing the juvenile courts, they set the kickback scheme in motion in December 2002, the authorities said. They shut down the county-run juvenile detention center, arguing that it was in poor condition, the authorities said, and maintained that the county had no choice but to send detained juveniles to the newly built private detention centers. Prosecutors say the judges tried to conceal the kickbacks as payments to a company they control in Florida. Though he pleaded guilty to the charges Thursday, Judge Ciavarella has denied sentencing juveniles who did not deserve it or sending them to the detention centers in a quid pro quo with the centers. But Assistant United States Attorney Gordon A. Zubrod said after the hearing that the government continues to charge a quid pro quo. "We’re not negotiating that, no," Mr. Zubrod said. "We’re not backing off." No charges have been filed against executives of the detention centers. Prosecutors said the investigation into the case was continuing. For years, youth advocacy groups complained that Judge Ciavarella was unusually harsh. He sent a quarter of his juvenile defendants to detention centers from 2002 to 2006, compared with a state rate of 1 in 10. He also routinely ignored requests for leniency made by prosecutors and probation officers. "The juvenile system, by design, is intended to be a less punitive system than the adult system, and yet here were scores of children with very minor infractions having their lives ruined," said Marsha Levick, a lawyer with the Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center. "There was a culture of intimidation surrounding this judge and no one was willing to speak up about the sentences he was handing down." Last year, the Juvenile Law Center, which had raised concerns about Judge Ciavarella in the past, filed a motion to the State Supreme Court about more than 500 juveniles who had appeared before the judge without representation. The court originally rejected the petition, but recently reversed that decision. The United States Supreme Court ruled in 1967 that children have a constitutional right to counsel. But in Pennsylvania, as in 20 other states, children can waive counsel, and about half of the children that Judge Ciavarella sentenced had chosen to do so. Only Illinois, New Mexico and North Carolina require juveniles to have representation when they appear before judges. Clay Yeager, the former director of the Office of Juvenile Justice in Pennsylvania, said typical juvenile proceedings are kept closed to the public to protect the privacy of children. "But they are kept open to probation officers, district attorneys, and public defenders, all of whom are sworn to protect the interests of children," he said. "It’s pretty clear those people didn’t do their jobs." On Thursday in Federal District Court in Scranton, more than 80 people packed every available seat in the courtroom. At one point, as Assistant United States Attorney William S. Houser explained to Judge Edwin M. Kosik that the government was willing to reach a plea agreement with the men because the case involved "complex charges that could have resulted in years of litigation," one man sitting in the audience said "bull" loud enough to be heard by most of the courtroom. The antipathy continued as Judge Conahan and Judge Ciavarella, who are free on bond, left the courthouse, where a dozen or so people gathered to jeer at them as they rushed into waiting vehicles. One of the parents at the hearing was Susan Mishanski of Hanover Township. Her son, Kevin, now 18, was sentenced to 90 days in a detention facility last year in a simple assault case that everyone had told her would result in probation, since Kevin had never been in trouble before and the boy he hit merely had a black eye. "It’s horrible to have your child taken away in shackles right in front of you when you think you’re going home with him," she said. "It was nice to see them sitting on the other side of the bench."
Pa. Judges Accused of
Jailing Kids for Cash
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A Feast
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