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By Terrie Morgan-Besecker tmorgan@timesleader.com
Law & Order Reporter
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WILKES-BARRE -- Two Luzerne County judges acknowledged they were guests at the Florida condominium that federal authorities say was utilized to disguise the source of part of the kickbacks allegedly accepted by judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan.

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Luzerne County judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan owned a condominium in the Jupiter Yacht Club, above, in Jupiter, Fla., documents say.

CHRIS MATULA/FOR THE TIMES LEADER

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Judges Michael Toole and Peter Paul Olszewski Jr. said they stayed at the Mariner and Jupiter Yacht Club for a brief time – Olszewski in 2005, Toole in 2006 – but had no idea the condominium was part of a fraudulent scheme that Conahan and Ciavarella are accused of devising.

Toole and Olszewski spoke of their stays in response to a written inquiry The Times Leader sent to all eight county judges last week that asked if they, any member of their family or staff had ever stayed at the condominium, or if they had ever accepted transportation on the private jet owned by attorney Robert Powell. Powell’s company has been named in a federal complaint as one of sources of the kickbacks.

Judges Joseph Augello, Joseph Musto, David Lupas, Thomas Burke, Hugh Mundy and President Judge Chester Muroski each replied in the negative to both questions.

The condominium is owned by Pinnacle Group LLC, whose president is listed as Conahan’s wife, Barbara. Federal prosecutors say that corporation is actually under the control of Ciavarella and Michael Conahan.

A criminal complaint filed against Ciavarella and Conahan on Jan. 26 says the judges utilized the condo to conceal the source of part of more than $2.6 million they allegedly accepted in kickbacks for rulings that benefited a detention center that was once partly owned by Powell.

Olszewski said he and several other people stayed at the condo as a guest of Conahan and his wife for about three or four days in June 2005. His relationship with Conahan was strictly social, he said, and he has never traveled on Powell’s plane.

“Obviously at the time I had no idea in any way, shape or form that he had done anything wrong,” Olszewski said of Conahan. “If I had any inkling, I would not have been anywhere near him.”

Toole, who is a friend and former law partner of Ciavarella’s, said he and two other friends stayed at the condo for two or three nights while on a golf outing with Ciavarella around February 2006.

“I was graciously invited to play golf with Judge Ciavarella,” Toole said. “He is a friend and was kind enough to invite me to stay there.”

Toole said he never accepted a flight on Powell’s plane and also stated he has never been on Powell’s yacht.

The yacht had been the subject of a ruling Toole issued on Oct. 21, 2004, that temporarily prevented the Jupiter Yacht Club’s marina association from terminating Powell’s lease of a dock.

Toole issued the ruling despite the fact an attorney for the marina sought to postpone the hearing so that the marina could obtain a local attorney to represent it. The marina’s attorney also questioned whether the case should be heard in Luzerne County or Florida.

Toole on Monday sought to clarify his ruling on that matter, saying he believes it has been unfairly portrayed.

Toole said he believes jurisdiction was proper in Pennsylvania because the case involved plaintiffs from this state.

“Our citizens, if they enter a contract here, shouldn’t have to fight a corporation in their hometown,” Toole said.

He acknowledged he received a letter dated Oct. 20 that sought to postpone the hearing, but said it did not come to his office until after the hearing had already been held.

Regardless, Toole said his order was only a temporary order. The marina association could have filed court papers challenging the ruling and raising the question of jurisdiction. The attorney never did that, however. The issue became a moot point because the court action was withdrawn by Powell two months later.

“It looked horrible and it really wasn’t that way,” Toole said. “That hearing was in 2004. Two years later I stayed there for two nights. I certainly wouldn’t compromise my integrity ever.”

Toole stressed that when he stayed at the condo he had no idea Ciavarella was involved in any type of alleged criminal activity. He said he hopes the public does not view his stay there as reflecting negatively on him.

“Lots of us have friends who make bad decisions and get in trouble. Guilt by association is not something I condone or something that is condoned in a court of law,” he said.

Terrie Morgan-Besecker, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 570-829-7179.