Corruption in Pennsyltucky: Thousands of juvenile delinquency cases thrown out

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled late Thursday that almost all juvenile delinquency cases heard by an indicted former judge must be thrown out. The ruling means cases heard by former Luzerne County Judge Mark Ciavarella from Jan. 1, 2003 to May 31, 2008 are in question for fairness and impartiality.

Ciavarella faces criminal charges that accuse him of taking millions of dollars in kickbacks from owners of private detention centers in exchange for placing juvenile defendants at their facilities, often for minor crimes.

In one reported case, a college-bound high school student served three weeks in juvenile detention for making fun of the school principal on a Web site.

The court said that it "cannot have any confidence that Ciavarella decided any Luzerne County juvenile case fairly and impartially while he labored under the specter of his self-interested dealings with the facilities," and called Ciavarella's actions a "travesty of juvenile justice."

The decision could impact up to 6,500 Pennsylvania youth, whose juvenile detention records will now be erased and their cases dismissed without the possibility of retrial.

Most of the affected youth have already served their time. In Pennsylvania, juvenile criminal records are not automatically expunged when children turn 18, so Thursday's ruling could give thousands of kids a clean slate, said Marsha Levick, deputy director of the Juvenile Law Center in Philadelphia and an attorney for the children. About 100 Pennsylvania children could now be released from juvenile detention or taken off of probation, according to Levick.

"The court's far-reaching order is an exceptional response to the most serious judicial scandal in the history of the United States," Levick told ABC News.

The ruling is the latest stunning development in a story of corruption that first shocked Luzerne County residents in January 2009. Federal prosecutors announced that respected county judges Ciavarella and Michael Conahan had pleaded guilty to tax evasion and honest services fraud. However, their plea deal and relatively light sentence were later rejected by a federal judge who ruled that Ciavarella and Conahan had failed to accept responsibility for their crimes. In fact, Ciavarella had previously told "20/20" that "we would never agree that [the kids' sentencing] was improper."

Now, the two former judges face much more serious federal racketeering, bribery, and extortion charges. All of this is the result of a lengthy investigation by the Internal Revenue Service and the FBI. Ciavarella and Conahan have pleaded not guilty.

"They sold their oath of offices to the highest bidders and engaged in ongoing schemes to defraud the public of honest services that were expected from them," Deron Roberts, chief of the FBI's Scranton office, said at a late January news conference announcing the case.

The judges' arrests shed light on a mystery in Luzerne County: Why were so many kids getting sent directly to juvenile detention after seeing Ciavarella in his Wilkes-Barre juvenile court? And why were those kids sent away in such a rush?

...

Levick said kids were being locked up for minor infractions. "A child who shoplifted a $4 bottle of nutmeg," she said. "A child who was charged with conspiracy to shoplift because he was present when his friend was shoplifting. A child who put up a MySpace page, taunting her school administrator.

"I think what we have here in Luzerne County is probably the most egregious abuse of power in the history of the American legal system," Levick said.

Levick turned her findings over to the FBI, and the outcome rocked the Pennsylvania justice system.

Ciavarella and Conahan had allegedly devised a plot to use their positions as judges to pad their pockets. They shut down the old county-run juvenile detention center by first refusing to send kids there and, then, by cutting off funds, choking it out of existence.

They then replaced the facility with a cash cow -- a privately owned lockup built by the judges' cronies -- and forged a deal for the county to pay $58 million for a 10-year period for its use. At the time, Conahan was serving as president judge of the Luzerne County Common Pleas Court, a position that allowed him to control the county-court budget. Ciavarella was the Luzerne County juvenile court judge.

In the judges' original plea deal, they admitted that they took more than $2.6 million in payoffs from the private youth detention center between 2003 and 2006.

Prosecutors said the judges attempted to hide their income from the scheme by creating false records and routing payments through intermediaries. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court removed them from their duties after federal prosecutors filed charges Jan. 26. The investigation is ongoing.

"The defendants engaged in fraud by taking millions of dollars in connection with the construction, operation and expansion of juvenile detention facilities here in Luzerne County," U.S. Attorney Martin Carlson said.

And, according to state statistics, Ciavarella's incarceration rates of juveniles jumped after the privately owned juvenile detention center opened.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/2020/pa-supreme-...2028&page=1

[pedroh 21]

where's Pennsyltucky?

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

where's Pennsyltucky?

Pennsyltucky is slang for the 'middle' part of PA... because it is more like Kentucky. Backwards, uneducated, pretty much a cultural wasteland ...

[pedroh 21]

sounds lovely

[pedroh 21]

[Nagishkaw 510]

That's messed up.

[justashooter 430]

where's Pennsyltucky?

Pennsyltucky is slang for the 'middle' part of PA... because it is more like Kentucky. Backwards, uneducated, pretty much a cultural wasteland ...

as a pennsylvanian i take exception to your description of the best of what is left of America. pennsylvania is like an oreo cookie, the white cream is in the middle.

pennsylvania ranks high in educational standards and is full of cultural/historic attractions and events. most mid staters are older than the national average, and have high levels of wealth and education. in a recent study pennsylvania ranked number 2 for the fewest "underwater mortgages" (low income sectors of philly kept us from being number 1). this is an indicator of the wisdom and fiscal restraint of mid state inhabitants. you should actually visit the place and learn of what you speak before sticking your a$$ into your mouth (however that metaphor goes...). you just don't hear stories of hispanic gang rapes in the mid state.

in regard to the OP, this is old news. the judge was getting kickbacks for arranging detention. he is corrupt, and is being dealt with.

[pedroh 21]

where's Pennsyltucky?

Pennsyltucky is slang for the 'middle' part of PA... because it is more like Kentucky. Backwards, uneducated, pretty much a cultural wasteland ...

as a pennsylvanian i take exception to your description of the best of what is left of America. pennsylvania is like an oreo cookie, the white cream is in the middle.

pennsylvania ranks high in educational standards and is full of cultural/historic attractions and events. most mid staters are older than the national average, and have high levels of wealth and education. in a recent study pennsylvania ranked number 2 for the fewest "underwater mortgages" (low income sectors of philly kept us from being number 1). this is an indicator of the wisdom and fiscal restraint of mid state inhabitants. you should actually visit the place and learn of what you speak before sticking your a$$ into your mouth (however that metaphor goes...). you just don't hear stories of hispanic gang rapes in the mid state.

in regard to the OP, this is old news. the judge was getting kickbacks for arranging detention. he is corrupt, and is being dealt with.

maybe the mortgages are low because is in the middle of nowhere? that specific area called 'pennsyltucky'

[pedroh 21]

and I guess for JAS, the "best" of America is only white people? LOL

doesn't surprise me....

[Sofiyya 1,687]

Pennsylvania is a beautiful state. One of the "Law & Order" shows did a take off on this case a while back.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

One of the "Law & Order" shows did a take off on this case a while back.

Yep, I saw that one.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

maybe the mortgages are low because is in the middle of nowhere? that specific area called 'pennsyltucky'

Bingo. The culturally dead part of PA, central PA, has low property values because of low demand for property. It's simply not a place good people want to live.

Witness the boom in property values in Northeastern PA when it becomes clear that a long-planned train route to New Jersey and NYC is finally going to happen. That's what it takes to make PA property desirable.

you should actually visit the place and learn of what you speak before sticking your a$$ into your mouth

Visit PA? I do, often. Have lots of friends and family in Bucks, Northampton and Lehigh counties. There are sections of N'ampton and Lehigh I'd most certainly classify as "Pennsyltucky". Bucks, OTOH, I like a lot.

[peejay 327]

where's Pennsyltucky?

Pennsyltucky is slang for the 'middle' part of PA... because it is more like Kentucky. Backwards, uneducated, pretty much a cultural wasteland ...

About like the vast majority of India (where it is customary to purify yourself in the most polluted body of water on earth).

Edited November 1, 2009 by peejay

[justashooter 430]

maybe the mortgages are low because is in the middle of nowhere? that specific area called 'pennsyltucky'

Bingo. The culturally dead part of PA, central PA, has low property values because of low demand for property. It's simply not a place good people want to live.

Witness the boom in property values in Northeastern PA when it becomes clear that a long-planned train route to New Jersey and NYC is finally going to happen. That's what it takes to make PA property desirable.

you should actually visit the place and learn of what you speak before sticking your a$$ into your mouth

Visit PA? I do, often. Have lots of friends and family in Bucks, Northampton and Lehigh counties. There are sections of N'ampton and Lehigh I'd most certainly classify as "Pennsyltucky". Bucks, OTOH, I like a lot.

low property values? buddy, you ain't been to york county lately. farmhouses with a few acres sell for half a million here. there are 10 mc'mansions raised up in the last 5 years in old corn fields in the 3 miles between me and I-83. my place is the oldest house in the valley, going back about 200 years. best feng shui i've ever seen, but then those old folks knew where to put a house. too bad most of the farm ground is sold off, but the mill house built in 1910 was the income source after that. baltimorons have been driving up property values here for decades. just lucky i bought when i did.

as for NE penna, who wants to live there? too many new jerkers. as for bucks, too many filthadelphians.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

low property values? buddy, you ain't been to york county lately. farmhouses with a few acres sell for half a million here.

half a million, sounds like a lot when you put it that way...

but doesn't sound like much when you realize it's just $500k

a few acres for 500k? dude that's fucсkin' cheap.