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It's official: He's broke. A federal judge Tuesday declared former Luzerne County Judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. a legal pauper, allowing him to proceed with an appeal of his corruption conviction without having to pay filing fees and other court costs. The ruling, from U.S. District Judge Edwin M. Kosik, came a day after Ciavarella filed a handwritten financial disclosure form listing his last day of employment as Aug. 8 - just days before his sentencing - and his estimated income as $2,500 per month. Kosik sentenced Ciavarella on Aug. 11 to 28 years in prison after his conviction in...

SCRANTON - At first, it was a seemingly chastened Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. who stood at a podium Thursday to address the court. The former Luzerne County judge apologized to his family, to the county bench and bar, to the juvenile probation officers who worked in his courtroom. Reading from a prepared statement, he asked the people of Luzerne County to forgive him for "violating the trust they placed in me" and told the juvenile offenders who appeared in his court that he had shown himself to be a "hypocrite by not practicing what I preached." Then Ciavarella's statement took...

A defiant Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. was sentenced to 28 years in prison and ordered to pay $965,000 in restitution this morning after reading a statement to the court in which he denied trading "kids for cash." "Those three words made me the personification of evil. They made me the devil. They made me the anti-Christ. They made me toxic," Ciavarella told U.S. District Judge Edwin M. Kosik. Ciavarella, 61, was taken into federal custody following the sentencing. Ciavarella, while admitting to tax charges and fraud for taking nearly $1 million from the builder of a for-profit detention center, forcefully...

Sandy Fonzo, the aggrieved and grieving mother who confronted Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. outside a federal courthouse last week after his conviction in the kids-for-cash case, blames her son's suicide on the former Luzerne County Juvenile Court judge, who jailed her son at 17. Her son's father, Edward R. Kenzakoski Jr., at least in part, blames himself. "I basically framed him with my buddies," Kenzakoski said Tuesday. Kenzakoski, a 44-year-old Bear Creek Township man employed in construction, said he planted drug paraphernalia in his son's truck about seven years ago, leading to his initial appearance in juvenile court. Fonzo alleges...

(Reuters) - A federal jury on Friday found a former Pennsylvania judge guilty in a so-called kids-for-cash scheme, in which he took money in exchange for sending juvenile offenders to for-profit detention centers. Former Luzerne County Judge Mark Ciavarella Jr. was accused of taking $2.8 million in bribes and kickbacks for putting juveniles into detention centers owned by friends. The jury in Scranton found him guilty of racketeering, money-laundering conspiracy, fraud and filing false income tax returns.

The mother of man who as a juvenile was incarcerated by fomer judge Mark Ciavarella angrily confronted him outside the courthouse, screaming at him that he was responsible for her son's suicide nine months ago. Sandy Fonzo of Wilkes-Barre was pushed away from Ciavarella by security after she jabbed at him. She had raced to the courthouse from her job in Kingston after hearing a verdict came in so that she could see him taken away in handcuffs. She was incensed that he was allowed to remain free pending sentencing. Fonzo's son, Edward Kenzakoski, had been jailed by Ciavarella when...

SCRANTON - Mark Ciavarella admitted he pocketed up to $20,000 from donations to his retention campaign in 2005. About 15 minutes later, Ciavarella's attorney William Ruzzo finished a brief redirect and Judge Edwin Kosik closed the testimony for the day. The admission came after Ciavarella admitted he had recieved business deals through Robert Powell that the average person could not get. He conceded he e had received half ownership in a Florida condo without paying a penny, and that he got involved in W-Cat, a business promising him up to $300,000, without paying any money. Ciavarella said he had to...

SCRANTON – Attorney Al Flora lost his bid to have a mistrial declared in former Luzerne County judge Mark Ciavarella’s corruption trial Friday, but he planted the seed for an appeal should Ciavarella be convicted, several attorneys said. Flora requested U.S. District Judge Edwin Kosik declare a mistrial after Kosik objected, for the third time in two days, to questions Flora sought to ask prosecution witnesses regarding Robert Powell. The judge denied the motion. The objections, which were raised by Kosik and not prosecutors, precluded Flora from introducing evidence he contends is important to Ciavarella’s defense of a 39-count federal...

SCRANTON – Mark Ciavarella never disclosed his financial relationship with attorney Robert Powell or developer Robert Mericle even when the men stood before him in court, witnesses said Friday in fifth day of the former Luzerne County judge’s corruption trial. Prosecutors have charged Ciavarella with 39 counts of racketeering, bribery, extortion, money laundering, honest services fraud, wire fraud and tax evasion. Jurors heard testimony from three attorneys who argued cases before Ciavarella that involved either Mericle or Powell during the interval in which prosecutors allege Ciavarella had a financial relationship with the men. All three lawyers said they would have...

SCRANTON – Mark Ciavarella approached the van parked along the roadway and tried to enter, first pulling the passenger-side door handle, then the rear. It was July 30, 2008, and Ciavarella, then a Luzerne County judge, suspected he might be under surveillance. He was right. Inside the van sat James Glenn, an FBI agent, and several co-workers. The men had been recording a conversation attorney Robert Powell, a government witness, was having with Ciavarella and Michael Conahan. Glenn saw Ciavarella approaching and hurriedly shut down the recording devices, fearful Ciavarella would hear the humming noise they made. The agents then...

SCRANTON – Robert Mericle said he sensed something was amiss the day in November 2007 when he met then-Luzerne County Judge Mark Ciavarella in his chambers. “I walked in and said ‘Hi Mark,’ ” Mericle testified Wednesday. “He put his finger to his lips to be quiet, then sat down and opened a desk drawer and wrote out, ‘Wired? Yes. No. Circle one.’ ” Mericle had gone to the courthouse in Wilkes-Barre that day to inquire about Ciavarella’s mother, whom a mutual friend had told him was ill. He was taken aback by the note, but did as he was...

SCRANTON – Prosecutors and defense attorneys in the corruption trial of former Judge Mark Ciavarella will begin questioning a pool of 95 potential jurors this morning in hopes of finding a panel of 12 jurors and four alternates. Jury selection is set to begin at 8:30 a.m. before U.S. District Judge Edwin Kosik in the federal courthouse in Scranton. Attorneys in the case have estimated the process will take at least a week, possibly longer. Ciavarella’s attorneys, Al Flora and William Ruzzo, had requested that each juror be questioned individually, arguing it would allow attorneys a better opportunity to detect...

SCRANTON – Former Luzerne County Judge Michael Conahan is willing to testify at the corruption trial of his one-time co-defendant, Mark Ciavarella – a decision federal law experts say could help reduce the potentially lengthy sentence Conahan is facing for his role in the scheme. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon Zubrod identified Conahan as a “potential” witness during a pre-trial conference held before U.S. District Judge Edwin Kosik on Aug. 5, according to a transcript of the proceeding. The transcript, publicly filed on Friday, also reveals that one of Ciavarella’s attorneys, William Ruzzo, has asked the court to pay his legal...

A White Haven man and his parents believe he, too, was sentenced unjustly as a youth several years ago in the alleged “kids for cash” scandal. They filed on Monday a lawsuit against a slew of familiar defendants. Raul Clark, now 21, was a 14-year-old Coughlin High School freshman in 2002 when he was arrested on misdemeanor charges of violating curfew and drug-paraphernalia possession. He was sentenced by former county Judge Mark Ciavarella to six months’ detention and was forced to face several other hardships of the legal system unjustly, the lawsuit contends. The lawsuit contends Clark’s rights under the...

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In a sweeping order issued Thursday, the state Supreme Court overturned every juvenile court sentence handed down by accused kids-for-cash judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. between 2003 and 2008, clearing the records of thousands of former defendants. Ciavarella, who is awaiting trial on racketeering charges, broke the law by taking kickbacks from the operator of two for-profit juvenile detention centers and ignored court rules by failing to fully inform juveniles who appeared before him of their right to legal counsel, the court concluded in a unanimous nine-page opinion. Read the order The violations were so egregious that even juveniles sentenced...

MARK CIAVARELLA, of Kingston, the former president judge of the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas, was charged on Jan. 26 with accepting $2.6 million from private individuals in exchange for rulings that benefited two juvenile detention centers the county utilized. He pleaded guilty, but the plea agreement was rejected by a judge. A grand jury issued a 48-count indictment against him on Sept. 9. He is awaiting trial. MICHAEL CONAHAN, of Wright Township, a former senior judge on the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas, was charged on Jan. 26 with accepting $2.6 million from private individuals in exchange...

In a legal brief filed Tuesday, 20 legal scholars and former judges argued that granting former Luzerne County judges Michael T. Conahan and Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. judicial immunity from civil suits in the kids-for-cash scandal would make a "mockery" of a legal doctrine designed to protect judicial independence and integrity. Ciavarella and Conahan, accused of accepting $2.8 million in kickbacks for sending juveniles to two for-profit detention centers, have claimed judicial immunity in civil-rights suits filed by hundreds of those juveniles in U.S. District Court. The former judges claim they cannot be held liable because the legal doctrine of...

SCRANTON - Federal prosecutors fear former Luzerne County judges Michael T. Conahan and Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. have tried to hide some of their assets to protect them from forfeiture in the racketeering case against them. Prosecutors unsuccessfully sought new bail conditions - including the posting of a $500,000 bond and a requirement that the judges wear electronic monitors - when Conahan and Ciavarella appeared in U.S. District Court to plead not guilty to a 48-count indictment Tuesday. Read the indictment When they pleaded guilty to fraud and conspiracy in February for allegedly taking $2.8 million in kickbacks, the judges...

HARRISBURG – A federal grand jury filed a 48-count indictment Wednesday against Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan, charging the former Luzerne County judges with racketeering, extortion, bribery, money laundering, fraud and tax violations. The indictment, issued by a grand jury in Dauphin County, alleges Conahan and Ciavarella received millions of dollars in illegal payments in connection with improper actions they took to facilitate the construction and operation of the PA and Western PA Child Care juvenile detention centers, according to a press release issued by U.S. Attorney Dennis Pfannenschmidt. In addition to the charges, prosecutors are seeking forfeiture of at...

HARRISBURG - A federal grand jury has issued an indictment against fomer judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan, charging them with racketeering and related charges in connection with alleged improper actions to facilitate the construction and operation of juvenile detention facilities owned by Pa and Western Pa child care. The indictment alleges Conahan and Ciavarella engaged in racketeering, fraud, money laundering, extortion, bribery and federal tax violations and that they received millions of dollars in illegal payments, according to a news release. Along with the criminal charges, the indictment seeks the forfeiture of at least $2,819,500 which is alleged to...

WILKES-BARRE - In the eyes of the federal courts, Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. and Michael T. Conahan became innocent men Monday afternoon. Just hours after a federal judge refused to reconsider his rejection of the plea agreements that Mr. Ciavarella and Mr. Conahan struck with prosecutors, the two former Luzerne County judges withdrew their guilty pleas to conspiracy and fraud. The move sets the kids-for-cash case back to square one and could lead to a high-stakes corruption trial on charges that the judges conspired to aid two for-profit juvenile detention centers in return for $2.6 million in kickbacks. The plea...

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story was posted at 4:39 p.m. Read more Luzerne County Judges articles Related Document read the judge's ruling SCRANTON - A federal judge rejected the plea agreement of former Luzerne County Judges Mark A. Ciavarella and Michael T. Conahan. Senior U.S. Judge Edwin Kosik issued an order today critical of comments and conduct of the two men after they entered their guilty pleas earlier this year to serve 87 months in prison. Kosik noted the presentence report for Conahan said he "refused to discuss the motivation behind his conduct, attempted to obstruct and impede justice and failed...

In his first public display of remorse since pleading guilty to corruption charges, former Judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. on Monday acknowledged bringing "shame to the bench" with his role in the scandal that ended his career and cast a pall of suspicion over the Luzerne County court system. "I had the greatest job in the world. It was the best job anyone could ever have, and I screwed it up," Mr. Ciavarella told WNEP-TV outside the William J. Nealon Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Scranton. "And I'm the one that did it," he continued. "I have myself to...

ALLENTOWN - Former Luzerne County judge Mark Ciavarella said he agreed to testify at a hearing regarding whether a defamation verdict he entered in favor of Thomas Joseph should be overturned because he wanted to set the record state that he did nothing wrong in the case. “I didn’t do anything wrong. I never had anyone influence me in the case, so I thought it was appropriate I do so,” a defiant Ciavarella said in a brief interview following his testimony. The disgraced judge is awaiting sentencing on charges he and former judge Michael Conahan accepted more than $2.6 million...

The state has denied pension benefits to two former Luzerne County judges who took kickbacks from a juvenile-detention provider and is seeking repayment of $4.3 million the judges' kids-for-cash scheme allegedly cost state taxpayers. Reversing its earlier position Michael T. Conahan and Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. are eligible to receive benefits until they are sentenced, the State Employees' Retirement System ruled the former judges' guilty pleas to fraud and conspiracy in February provided sufficient grounds to deny them benefits. In a letter to two state lawmakers who proposed bills to immediately rescind pension benefits when a judge or other state...

WILKES-BARRE - Attorney Robert J. Powell came wired to his meetings with two judges who demanded kickbacks for helping his juvenile detention centers flourish, recording "incriminating conversations" that were "instrumental" in bringing the judges to justice, federal prosecutors say in a legal document obtained Wednesday by Times-Shamrock Newspapers. That cooperation could earn Mr. Powell, who has agreed to plead guilty to acting as an accessory to the Luzerne County judges, a shorter prison sentence than the 21 to 27 months he would normally face under federal sentencing guidelines. The legal document, prepared by federal prosecutors with input from Mr. Powell's...

SCRANTON – Attorney Robert Powell thought he had a great business idea when he approached two Luzerne County judges in 2001 about building a new juvenile detention center. The county-run facility was deteriorating, and judges Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella quickly agreed to support Powell’s plan for the Pa. Child Care juvenile center in Pittston Township. What Powell didn’t know, federal prosecutors now say, was that Ciavarella and Conahan would demand to be paid for that assistance. They would collect more than $2.6 million over five years before the scheme was uncovered. The depth of the judges’ involvement and the...

Attorneys for individuals and companies being sued by hundreds of juveniles jailed in the Luzerne County kids-for-cash scandal are seeking a court order to preserve records the attorneys fear could be destroyed as part of a court-ordered review of thousands of juvenile cases handled by disgraced former judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. More than 350 juveniles and parents are seeking damages from Ciavarella and other defendants in three civil rights suits filed in U.S. District Court in Scranton. A Berks County judge is in the process of reviewing, and possibly expunging, the records of juveniles sentenced by Ciavarella, who faces...

WILKES-BARRE – The tipstaff for Luzerne County Judge Michael Toole was served a subpoena by the federal agents investigating corruption within the county, two sources familiar with the investigation said Wednesday. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Tom Marino was served the subpoena at the courthouse on Monday. The sources did not know what information is being sought or to which investigation the subpoena is related. Contacted at the courthouse on Wednesday, Marino declined to comment on whether he had been subpoenaed. “I’m not saying it did happen. I’m not saying it didn’t happen,” Marino said during...

Reports probing Conahan and Ciavarella still not in, meaning late June, July the likely date. WILKES-BARRE – It appears it will be at least another month before former judges Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella are sentenced on corruption charges. It was initially estimated that the judges, who pleaded guilty on Feb. 12, would be sentenced in April or May. But a delay in the completion of pre-sentence investigation reports by the U.S. Probation Department has pushed that date back, said Ciavarella’s attorney, Al Flora Jr. Flora said defense attorneys received the pre-sentence report on May 6. The defense is normally...

SCRANTON – An attorney for former Luzerne County Judge Mark A. Ciavarella challenged a court order freezing his pension, saying it violates the terms of the plea agreement and fails to take into account the “current economic hardships” of Ciavarella and his wife. At the request of the U.S. Attorney on Tuesday, Senior U.S. Judge Edwin Kosik issued a restraining order that made the $232,051 pension off limits to Ciavarella, his family, attorneys or others so that the money could be held for forfeiture and restitution. Ciavarella and former Luzerne County Judge Michael T. Conahan pleaded guilty in February to...

WILKES-BARRE — A production crew working with filmmaker Michael Moore was in Luzerne County last week interviewing figures in the kids-for-cash scandal. Mr. Moore, famous for documentaries such as “Bowling for Columbine” and “Fahrenheit 9/11” was not present during the filming, according to two sources familiar with the project who spoke on condition of anonymity because of confidentiality agreements signed by those interviewed. Mr. Moore did not respond to a request for comment on Saturday. Among those interviewed, according to the sources, were juveniles sentenced by former county judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. Mr. Ciavarella faces 87 months in prison...

The state Supreme Court on Thursday approved a judge’s recommendation that would erase the criminal records of all juveniles charged with certain minor offenses who appeared before Judge Mark Ciavarella over a five-year period. The recommendation came from Senior Judge Arthur Grim, who was appointed as a master by the Supreme Court on Feb. 11 to review cases that were heard by Ciavarella. Ciavarella is awaiting sentencing on a guilty plea for accepting kickbacks in exchange for decisions and rulings that led to use of two privately owned juvenile detention centers. Ciavarella’s attorney, Al Flora, declined comment. Thursday’s decision covered...

The state Supreme Court will expunge a number of juvenile cases handled by disgraced Luzerne County Judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr., following a recommendation from Judge Arthur Grim, the Berks County jurist appointed to review the cases. Grim filed an Interim Report last Friday proposing procedures to identify Luzerne County juvenile cases where he believed the adjudications should be vacated and expunged. * Read the state Supreme Court order * View stories, documents and videos related to the court corruption probe The state Supreme Court said it would allow Grim to "grant such relief as expeditiously as possible" with two...

In a terse one-sentence letter dated Thursday, Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. informed Gov. Ed Rendell that effective the close of business Monday, he would no longer be a Luzerne County judge. The announcement brings the former president judge another step closer to the end game, likely 87 months in a federal prison. Ciavarella could not be reached for comment. His attorney, Al Flora Jr., declined to comment on the motive behind the letter or Monday’s target date. “The letter speaks for itself,” Flora said. Ciavarella, of Kingston, pleaded guilty to accepting $2.6 million in kickbacks related to juvenile detention center...

WILKES-BARRE — Former Luzerne County President Judge Michael T. Conahan met William “Big Billy” D’Elia for breakfast twice a month to discuss pending cases and once assured the mob boss of a “positive outcome” in a defamation suit filed by one of his friends, a D’Elia associate claims in a document to be filed today in state Supreme Court. The friend was later awarded $3.5 million by a judge who is former Judge Conahan’s co-defendant in a corruption case. D’Elia associate Robert J. Kulick alleges he and Mr. D’Elia met with former Judge Conahan twice monthly for eight years in...

SCRANTON – Luzerne County Prothonotary Jill Moran could potentially face criminal charges if she violates an agreement to cooperate with federal prosecutors investigating corruption in the county courthouse, according to a stipulation she and her attorneys signed on Monday. The agreement, known as a consent judgment, required Moran, 39, to resign as prothonotary and to fully cooperate in an investigation into alleged fraud. She submitted her letter of resignation, effective March 13, to Gov. Ed Rendell on Friday. According to a civil complaint filed Monday by U.S. Attorney Martin Carlson, Moran, a Hazleton area attorney, voluntarily informed prosecutors that people...

WILKES-BARRE – Longtime Luzerne County Probation Department official Sandra Brulo was charged Friday with altering a juvenile’s record in an attempt to lessen her potential culpability in a class action lawsuit that was filed against her and numerous others. Brulo admitted to an FBI agent on Friday that she altered a document of a juvenile, who was not identified Friday, to show that she had recommended the youth be given probation, when in fact she had recommended detention, according to an affidavit filed in support of the criminal complaint. She did so to insulate herself from a class action lawsuit...

A witness will testify one or both of the disgraced Luzerne County judges who have pleaded guilty to accepting millions in kickbacks have “direct connections” to jailed mobster William “Big Billy” D’Elia, according to a petition filed Thursday in the state Supreme Court by lawyers for the owners of The Citizens’ Voice. The petition asks the court to vacate a $3.5 million defamation verdict issued by suspended Judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. in June 2006 against the Scranton Times LP, a related company called the Times Partner and former Citizens’ Voice reporter Edward Lewis. After a nonjury trial, Judge Ciavarella...

WILKES-BARRE - The first of what may be several class action lawsuits filed in response to the alleged juvenile detention scandal was filed in federal court late Thursday. Two lawfirms - Cefalo & Associates of West Pittston and Caroselli, Beachler, McTiernan & Conboy in Pittsburgh - filed the lawsuit on behalf of hundreds of children and their families who were impacted by Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas judges Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. and Michael T. Conahan. Ciavarella, 58, and Conahan, 56, pleaded guilty in federal court on Thursday to conspiring to impede the Internal Revenue Service in the collection...

Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day Thursday. First came the fingerprints, then the mug shot, then the guilty plea to accepting $2.6 million in kickbacks with his fellow Luzerne County judge and co-defendant Michael T. Conahan. Still to come was a gantlet of news cameras and jeering, hooting citizens waiting outside the federal courthouse. “How do you think it would be?” said a haggard Judge Ciavarella, standing at the back of the courtroom. “It wasn’t fun.” Judges Ciavarella and Conahan, wearing dark gray suits and grim looks, sat through a recitation of the...

SCRANTON - Yells of "rot in hell" and "I hope the Aryan Nation loves you in prison" were directed at Luzerne County judges Mark A. Ciavarella and Michael T. Conahan when they emerged from the federal courthouse in Scranton. Ciavarella and Conahan pleaded guilty to federal charges that they accepted more than $2.6 million in kickbacks in connection to the construction and operation of juvenile detention facilities. Both judges appeared with their respective attorneys inside the courtroom that was filled to capacity. A second courtroom was set up to accommodate the overflow crowd who watched the 45 minute proceeding that...

The state has identified $2.26 million in questionable expenses at the western Pennsylvania juvenile detention center involved in Luzerne County’s public corruption investigation, according to a draft audit obtained Wednesday. Those expenses include limousine rides to the King of Prussia Mall and NCAA basketball tournament, a fishing trip on Butler Township attorney Robert Powell’s yacht and a $3,500 custom-made suit for former Hazleton Mayor Mike Marsicano, the audit said. The state Department of Public Welfare launched the audit to determine if Western Pa. Child Care’s costs were accurate and “reasonable” because those costs drive the amount of state reimbursement given...

HARRISBURG -- State lawmakers are seeking ways to compensate children sent to detention centers by a pair of Luzerne County judges charged with taking kickbacks for sending juvenile defendants to facilities in Luzerne and Butler counties. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Stewart Greenleaf said yesterday he would hold a hearing to find ways to help the children and their families. One option is to provide money from the crime victims compensation fund, said Mr. Greenleaf, R-Montgomery. The hearing, which has not yet been scheduled, is at the request of Republican Sens. Lisa Baker and John Gordner, whose districts include parts of...

WILKES-BARRE — Luzerne County Court Administrator William T. Sharkey Sr., the highest-paid non-judicial employee in the county court system, has agreed to plead guilty to pocketing more than $70,000 seized in illegal gambling cases over 10 years, federal prosecutors said Tuesday. WILKES-BARRE — Luzerne County Court Administrator William T. Sharkey Sr., the highest-paid non-judicial employee in the county court system, has agreed to plead guilty to pocketing more than $70,000 seized in illegal gambling cases over 10 years, federal prosecutors said Tuesday. Sharkey is the third high-ranking court official snared in a wide-ranging, ongoing federal probe of the county court...

WILKES-BARRE – The state Supreme Court has agreed to review juvenile cases prosecuted in Luzerne County to determine whether any youth were improperly sentenced to detention, Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille announced Monday. The court agreed to exercise its king’s bench powers – an extraordinary action reserved only for the cases that are of immediate public importance – to review cases that were brought before former Judge Mark Ciavarella, the county’s longtime juvenile court judge. The ruling comes one week after federal authorities charged Ciavarella and Judge Michael Conahan with accepting more than $2.6 million in kickbacks in exchange for...

WILKES-BARRE — Two Luzerne County judges facing 87 months in prison for allegedly taking $2.6 million in kickbacks were stripped of their judicial duties by the state Supreme Court on Wednesday. Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. and Michael T. Conahan are expected to plead guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges in federal court Feb. 12 and subsequently resign from the bench and bar. Judge Ciavarella, who stepped down as president judge Monday but remains on the bench, was suspended with pay from all judicial and administrative duties pending the outcome of his case. Common pleas judges were paid annual salaries of...

WILKES-BARRE – A local attorney who specializes in civil rights cases said he believes some of the juveniles who were incarcerated under juvenile Judge Mark Ciavarella’s tenure have a strong basis to file a lawsuit seeking compensation for emotional and financial harm. “I’m looking at this and see so many civil claims based on so many potential civil rights violations, it’s shocking,” said Barry Dyller of Wilkes-Barre. Dyller said the key issue is the propriety of Ciavarella’s decision to detain children at the PA Child Care juvenile detention center in Pittston Township that was formerly owned by Butler Township attorney...

Allegations are that Ciavarella, Conahan took $2.6M in kickbacks in exchange for judicial rulings regarding detention centers. SCRANTON – For more than a decade, Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan served on the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas, developing reputations as hard-working judges. On Monday, federal prosecutors revealed the longtime jurists were allegedly working equally hard behind the scenes on a far less noble endeavor – enriching themselves at the expense of the public and juveniles who appeared in Luzerne County Court. They did so in the form of kickbacks -- $2.6 million worth – that U.S. Attorney Martin Carlson...