Experts: Convictions spark more evidence

WILKES-BARRE – Why now?

For decades nepotism and political patronage have been seen as a way of life in Northeastern Pennsylvania, locals will tell you.

It was not what you knew, but who you knew that dictated who got government and school jobs and contracts. And those on the outside believed there was nothing they could do about it.

That’s the feeling several law enforcement officials and attorneys say likely played a major role in the rapidly developing corruption probe that so far has brought down two Luzerne County judges and two school district officials.

Why, after years of suspicion, rumors and innuendo of pay-for-play schemes, did federal authorities turn their sights on Luzerne County?

No one can say for sure. U.S. Attorney Martin Carlson has released few details of the ongoing probe in order to protect its integrity.

But veteran criminal investigators agree: The arrests in January of judges Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella on charges of accepting kickbacks likely played key role in helping prosecutors expand their probe.

Following the judges’ arrest, Carlson made a public plea for residents to report any evidence of wrongdoing. It’s apparent many people have emerged, said Fred Martens, a private criminal investigator who formerly headed the Pennsylvania Crime Commission, which investigated organized crime.

“My best guess is they’ve got some good sources feeding them information. As they begin to produce cases, more and more sources are coming out,” Martens said.

Those sources, who had for years remained silent, are now suddenly willing to come forward, emboldened by the belief that someone will finally listen, Martens and others said.

“The normal person who goes to work every day believes the system has been completely corrupted up there. Everybody you talk to says the same thing. It’s been so blatant it’s just accepted as business as usual,” Martens said. “When you see two highly respected judges go down, you say ‘maybe there is some justice in the world, maybe the feds really do want to do something about what’s going on up there.’ ”

Ernest Preate, a Scranton lawyer who formerly served as state Attorney General, and former Luzerne County District Attorney Robert Gillespie, agreed the arrest of the judges was pivotal in exposing other alleged corruption.

“It’s always been clear that to get a job with county government you had to know someone. There’s no question about that,” Gillespie said. “When the depth of corruption came out, there were a lot of people who for the first time thought there was some place they could go and let people know what happened.”

It was important for people to see results, Preate said, and federal prosecutors have been quick to provide them.

“Success breeds success,” Preate said. “If you can bring down two county judges, that sends a message to the public: You are not afraid or intimidated and you are going to examine cases.”

Conahan and Ciavarella pleaded guilty in February to charges of tax evasion and depriving the public of their honest services for accepting more than $2.6 million in kickbacks in exchange for rulings that benefited the owner and builder of the PA Child Care juvenile detention facility in Pittston Township.

Within the next few weeks, two more county officials – former court administrator William Sharkey and juvenile probation department official Sandra Brulo – were arrested.

Sharkey was charged with stealing more than $70,000 from the county; Brulo was charged with altering a juvenile’s record in order to shield herself from liability in a lawsuit. Both have pleaded guilty.

Investigators then turned their focus on several area school districts, arresting Pittston Area Superintendent Ross Scarantino on April 16 on charges of accepting bribes in exchange for influencing the awarding of contracts. He was followed by Wilkes-Barre Area School Board member Brian Dunn, who was charged last week with accepting money for influencing contracts and teacher hirings.

Prosecutors have not made any direct link between the two investigations, but Martens said it’s likely the school probe grew out of information uncovered while investigating the judges.

“Once the judge thing came out you started to see people flipping,” Martens said. “You could refer to it as rats jumping off the ship. … If you get brought before a grand jury and have something to hide, your first instinct is to save yourself.”

While he credits the U.S. Attorney’s office for its efforts, Martens said it’s important it keep the pressure on and continue to make arrests as quickly as possible.

“You’ve got citizens who actually think something can be done. You want to keep it going because once you lose the momentum, the public will think its back to usual again,” Martens said.

Carlson has declined to say if more arrests are forthcoming. But he said county residents can rest assured his office is committed to rooting out all corruption within the county.

The continued help of the public in reporting wrongdoing is crucial to that endeavor, he said.

“People are getting beyond the conventional wisdom that nothing can be done and they’re coming forward and reporting wrongdoing. Once people have taken that first step, they can see the results of those efforts,” Carlson said.

Help Sought

The FBI has asked anyone with information regarding public corruption to contact special agents Richard Southerton or Joseph Noone in the agency’s Scranton office at (570) 344-2404.