Kids for cash scandal
The kids for cash scandal centered on judicial kickbacks to two judges at the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, US.
[1] In 2008, judges Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella were convicted of accepting money in return for imposing harsh adjudications on juveniles to increase occupancy at a private prison operated by PA Child Care.
[2] Ciavarella disposed thousands of children to extended stays in youth centers for offenses as trivial as mocking an assistant principal on Myspace or trespassing in a vacant building.
[13] Pennsylvania's Judicial Conduct Board received four complaints about Michael Conahan between 2004 and 2008, but later admitted it failed to investigate any of them, nor had it sought documentation regarding the cases involved.
[15] An additional investigation into improper sentencing in Luzerne County began in early 2007 as a result of requests for assistance from several youths received by the Philadelphia-based Juvenile Law Center.
[18] Lokuta was brought before the Judicial Conduct Board in November 2006 to answer charges of using court workers to do her personal bidding, openly displaying bias against some attorneys arguing before her, and publicly berating staff to cause mental distress.
[15] The Pennsylvania Supreme Court decided to uphold Lokuta's removal from the bench in January 2011, finding she had received a fair trial, regardless of Conahan's testimony.
[4] Original, negotiated plea agreements called for both judges to serve up to seven years in prison, pay fines and restitution, and accept responsibility for the crimes.
Prosecutors argued the judges' bail should have been higher, since they faced the possibility of substantially more prison time and there had been evidence of attempts made to shield assets.
[37] Robert Mericle, the prominent real estate developer who built the two juvenile facilities, pleaded guilty on September 3, 2009, to failing to disclose a felony.
[41] Sandra Brulo, the former deputy director of Forensic Services for the Luzerne County Juvenile Probation Office, agreed to plead guilty in March 2009 to federal obstruction of justice.
[42] On February 18, 2011, following a trial, a federal jury convicted Ciavarella on 12 of the 39 remaining counts he faced including racketeering, a crime in which prosecutors said the former judge used children "as pawns to enrich himself".
In convicting Ciavarella of racketeering, the jury agreed with prosecutors that he and Conahan had taken an illegal payment of nearly $1 million from a youth center's builder, then hid the money.
[48] However, Ciavarella has continued to appeal, contending that the Supreme Court's decision in the case of ex-Governor of Virginia Robert McDonnell narrowed the scope of the honest services fraud statute.
[55] On November 4, 2011, Powell was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to failing to report a felony and being an accessory to tax conspiracy.
[59] Robert Mericle's sentencing in connection with his guilty plea for failing to report a felony was delayed pending his anticipated testimony in the bribery trial of former Congressman and Pennsylvania State Senator Raphael Musto.
On November 23, 2010, a federal grand jury had issued a six-count indictment against Musto, charging him with accepting more than $28,000 from an unnamed company and individual in exchange for his help in obtaining grants and funding.
Besides naming Ciavarella and Conahan, the suit seeks damages under the civil portion of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) against the judges' spouses and business associates, shell companies, youth center officials, and Luzerne County.
[77] In the aftermath of the federal charges and defendant pleas, the Pennsylvania General Assembly moved to create a commission to investigate the entire set of circumstances surrounding the miscarriage of justice in Luzerne County.
Sponsored by Representative Todd Eachus of Butler Township in Luzerne County, House Bill 1648[78] established the Interbranch Commission on Juvenile Justice in July 2009.
"[79] Scheduled to meet a minimum of once per month, the commission was organized to investigate the actions of and damages caused by the two judges and review the state of the Luzerne County courts left in the wake of their tenures.
[92][93][94] In 2015, crime fiction novelist Ace Atkins, using the pen name of the late Robert B. Parker to write Kickback, which borrows heavily from this case, transposing it into a Boston suburb instead.
