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LUZERNE COUNTY JUDICIAL SCANDAL

February 14, 2009

Class action suits filed vs. judges

Suits are first to be filed against judges Mark Ciavarella Jr. and Michael T. Conahan.

By Terrie Morgan-Besecker tmorgan@timesleader.com
Law & Order Reporter
Terrie Morgan-Besecker on Facebook   |   @TLTerrieMorgan on Twitter

SCRANTON – Two class action lawsuits have been filed against two county judges and several others who are alleged to have participated in a scheme to place juveniles at two detention centers that are the focus of a probe into the Luzerne County judiciary.

The complaints, filed Thursday and Friday in federal court, are the first of several lawsuits expected to be filed in connection with the juvenile court scandal that led to criminal charges against judges Mark Ciavarella Jr. and Michael T. Conahan.

The suits were separately filed by attorney Michael Cefalo of West Pittston on behalf of Florence Wallace of Shavertown and her 15-year-old daughter, and attorney Barry H. Dyller of Wilkes-Barre on behalf of 13 juveniles and their parents.

Wallace’s daughter, Bernadine, 15, was incarcerated in a wilderness detention camp in 2007 after appearing before Ciavarella without an attorney on charges of making terroristic threats on myspace.com.

The complaints seek damages as potentially hundreds of other juveniles who are alleged to have been improperly detained in order to permit the judges and others to enrich themselves. In addition to Ciavarella and Conahan, the complaints name Gregory Zappala, owner of PA Child Care and Western PA Child Care; his former partner, attorney Robert Powell; local developer Robert Mericle, who built the centers, and Mid Atlantic Youth Services Corp., the agency that provided the treatment program and staff at the centers.

The suit also names the wives of Conahan and Ciavarella, plus various businesses owned by the judges and Powell, including his law firm, the Powell Law Group of Drums.

Dyller’s suit also named Sandra Brullo, individually and in her capacity as chief juvenile probation officer.

Ciavarella and Conahan pleaded guilty Thursday to charges they accepted more than $2.6 million in kickbacks in exchange for rulings that benefited the owners and builder of PA Child Care in Pittston Township and Western PA Child Care in Butler County.

Cefalo, who filed the suit in conjunction with a Pittsburgh law firm, alleges the defendants engaged in “racketeering activity” by utilizing the mail and wire transfers to disguise the source of the income the judges realized from the kickbacks.

“At the hands of two grossly corrupt judges and several conspirators, hundreds of Pennsylvania children, their families and loved ones, were victimized and their civil rights violated,” Cefalo said in a prepared statement. “It’s our intent to make sure that the system rights this terrible injustice and holds those responsible accountable.”

Most of the allegations in the complaints mirror the criminal complaint that was filed against Ciavarella and Conahan on Jan. 26 by the U.S. Attorney’s office.

The criminal complaint alleged the judges used their positions to make a number of favorable rulings, including closing the county-run juvenile center, and to ensure the PA Child Care and Western PA Child Care flourished. Ciavarella, the county’s longtime juvenile judge, was accused of sending juveniles there, even when probation officers recommended the child be sent home.

In the Wallace case, the girl, who was then 14, was charged after she posted a threatening message about another teen on a myspace.com page.

The suit says Flo Wallace was persuaded to allow her daughter to appear before the judge without an attorney. Wallace was told her daughter would get three to six months probation if she admitted guilt, but if she didn’t, the judge would be “a lot harder on her” and would hold her until she was age 18.

The suit alleges the Wallace case is reflective of a conspiracy among the defendants to “adjudicate juvenile offenders delinquent without assistance of counsel.”

William Conway, one of the 13 juveniles suing the judges through Dyller, was found delinquent by Ciavarella in 2003. Conway was sentenced to six months in PA Child Care, which created a plaque with Conway’s name “to commensurate him as an early customer,” Dyller’s complaint says.

Dyller alleged Ciavarella failed to disclose that he had a conflict and a financial interest in PA Child Care when he sentenced Conway and other juveniles to the juvenile detention facilities.

In a statement released earlier this week by his attorneys, Powell acknowledged he had paid money to Ciavarella and Conahan, but said he was coerced into doing so out of fear of the power the judges wielded. He denied influencing the judges in any way regarding sentencing of juveniles.

“My client vigorously denies he participated in a contract or any kind of agreement with the judges or anyone else to violate any person’s civil rights,” Mark Sheppard, one of Powell’s attorneys, said Friday.

Dan Fee, spokesman for Zappala, declined to comment, as did Al Flora, attorney for Ciavarella. Mericle’s attorney, Lew Sebia, did not return a phone message Friday.

Judges’ salaries terminated

HARRISBURG -- The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Friday terminated the salary and benefits of Luzerne County Judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. The action follows Ciavarella’s guilty plea to criminal charges in U.S. District Court in the Middle District of Pennsylvania on Thursday.

Ciavarella pleaded guilty to charges of defrauding the public of honest service and conspiracy to commit tax fraud.

Former Luzerne County Judge Michael T. Conahan also pleaded guilty to the same charges. The judges are accused of profiting from the placement of juvenile defendants in two private detention facilities.

The Supreme Court, exercising its broad supervisory powers over the Pennsylvania court system, removed both judges from service on Jan. 28 after they were charged by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

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