A Pennsylvania juvenile court judge was convicted of racketeering in a $2.8 million "kids for cash" plot to send youth offenders to for-profit detention centers.
February 21, 2011 - Mark Ciavarella, 61, a Luzerne County PA judge was found guilty of 12 of 39 racketeering and fraud charges for accepting millions of dollars in bribes from friends who owned detention centers to which he sent juveniles. Another judge - Judge Michael Conahan - pleaded guilty to racketeering last year in the same scheme.
After his arrest, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court dismissed 4,000 juvenile convictions issued by Ciavarella, saying he sentenced young offenders without regard for their constitutional rights.
Both judges pleaded guilty to tax evasion but a Federal judge refused to accept the plea bargain, leading to the corruption charges.
Some of the children were as young as 10. A twelve-year-old boy spent two years in the facility for joyriding in his mother's car. A 17-year-old boy sentenced for drug paraphernalia killed himself years later. His mother confronted Ciavarella outside the courtroom. An ABC video captures her rage.
MOBSTER TIPPED OFF POLICE. Investigators were tipped off by a mobster in a northeastern Pennsylvania Mafia family who regularly met for breakfast with Conahan. He became a government informant after his 2006 arrest on charges of witness tampering and conspiracy to launder drug money.
Feb 23, 2011 - An out-of-county judge has been brought in to investigate court employees linked to the payoffs.
SEE ENTRY BELOW FOR MORE JUDICIAL MISCONDUCT.
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