Uncashed checks found in safe

Two uncashed checks were recently discovered in the Luzerne Prothonotary’s Office safe, and Prothonotary Carolee Medico Olenginski said she wants to know why her predecessor, Jill Moran, instructed a worker not to deposit that money.

One of the checks was from the PA Child Care juvenile detention center for a $1,000 bond that had to be posted with its December 2004 filing of a controversial trade secrets lawsuit against former county controller Steve Flood and two state officials.

Moran’s law partner, Robert Powell, had co-owned the PA Child Care center at that time, and Moran had served as the attorney of record for PA Child Care in 2001 when Powell and Greg Zappala initiated construction of the Pittston Township facility.

The other check for $34,000 had been written by McCarthy Tire Service Co. Inc. to the county on Feb. 19, 2002, in connection with the company’s suit to get possession of a trailer it had purchased but not received.

Medico Olenginski said bond checks are supposed to be immediately deposited and put into escrow until the court orders the funds to be disseminated or returned – not kept uncashed in a safe.

She said she spoke to a prothonotary employee who handled the deposits at that time, and the worker told her that Moran had instructed her not to deposit the checks.

Moran could not be reached for comment Friday. She had resigned from the prothonotary seat in March 2009 because of an agreement with federal prosecutors connected to the ongoing corruption probe.

Prothonotary Solicitor Sam Stretton sent a letter to Moran this week asking for an explanation on why the checks were not deposited.

Former judge Michael Conahan’s Dec. 17, 2004, court order granting the filing of the trade secrets suit said PA Child Care must post a $1,000 bond.

PA Child Care faxed a copy of the bond check to the prothonotary’s office that day, but it’s unclear when the physical check was delivered to the office.

Medico Olenginski said the office should not have accepted a faxed check as proof of the bond posting, and she can’t think of any argument why the $1,000 bond was not deposited because Conahan had ordered the payment.

“They were ordered to put up the $1,000 bond, and their lawsuit went through. It was not withdrawn,” she said.

The suit challenged the release of a draft audit critical of the county’s $58 million, 20-year lease of PA Child Care’s detention center. The audit has since been publicly released by the state welfare department, but PA Child Care has not yet dropped the suit, despite assertions to the court in February that the suit would be settled.

Conahan and former judge Mark Ciavarella have been charged with accepting kickbacks in exchange for actions that benefited the center, and Conahan has signed an agreement to plead guilty.

Powell, who sold his ownership interest in the center to Zappala last year, pleaded guilty to two felonies in July but has not yet been sentenced.

Conahan had sealed the trade secrets suit, but the state Superior Court overturned that decision after an appeal by The Times Leader. Federal authorities have said that Conahan’s sealing without a hearing was one example of fraud committed by Conahan in exchange for a bribe, according to an indictment against Conahan and Ciavarella.

John McCarthy, of McCarthy Tire, said his business had to post the $34,000 as a security, with the understanding that the money would be returned to the company once the trailer was seized. The company never received a returned check, he said.