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

HARRISBURG – Disgraced ex-judges Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella have officially notified the State Employees’ Retirement System that they are appealing the agency’s decision to deny them their pensions, said Robert Gentzel, spokesman for SERS.

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The former judges are challenging the agency’s June 15 ruling that they forfeited their pensions based on their guilty pleas in February to federal charges of tax evasion and depriving the public of their honest services.

Conahan, who retired in January 2008, had been collecting a monthly pension payment of $8,073.87 up until April of this year, according to SERS. Ciavarella, who had not received any pension payments, filed a request seeking his pension, which was estimated at $5,156.11 per month, according to SERS.

In a separate matter, SERS has not yet made a determination regarding whether former Luzerne County court administrator William Sharkey, who pleaded guilty in February to stealing more than $70,000 from the county, will be entitled to his pension, Gentzel said in a written reply to a Right To Know Request.

Gentzel said no determination has been made because Sharkey has not yet applied to begin receiving pension benefits.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted Sharkey, intends to seize the contributions Sharkey made to the system, which equaled $43,291.74, according to SERS, to pay any restitution that may be ordered. Prosecutors have agreed not to seize the entire amount if it’s determined the restitution owed is less than what is in the account.

Sharkey, who testified before a grand jury in Scranton on Tuesday, is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 3 for his guilty plea to one count of embezzlement of public funds. Prosecutors said he pocketed illegal gambling proceeds seized from area taverns by the State Police Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement.

Under state pension law, a person convicted of certain state crimes related to their employment can be forced to forfeit their pension. Persons charged with federal offenses are also subject to forfeiture if the crime is deemed to be substantially similar to state crimes listed under the act.

In Conahan’s and Ciavarella’s cases, SERS initially believed it could not make a determination on the judges’ pension benefits until they are sentenced on the charges, which is still pending. The agency took a second look at the issue at the request of several state legislators.

The initial determination was based on the belief that a conviction is not official until a person is sentenced. SERS officials later consulted with outside counsel, which advised the agency it believes the law is triggered when a guilty plea is entered.