Conahan ran show, feds say

“Listen, you paid me rent for my condo. You didn’t pay me rent for my condo to shut the juvenile detention center down or fix cases.” -- Michael Conahan, former county president judge in taped conversation

WILKES-BARRE – From the moment he took a Christmas Eve drive with Robert Powell in 2001 to check out the site for a new juvenile detention center, Michael Conahan made it clear: He was the man in charge.

As the president judge of Luzerne County, Conahan held immense power over whether the facility would flourish or fail, and he ensured Powell, who co-owned the center, knew that.

Over the next seven years he proved true to his word, evidence collected by federal authorities shows. He took the lead role in soliciting more than $700,000 in kickbacks from Powell, prosecutors say, and in developing a scheme to conceal the source of that money, as well as more than $2 million paid by real estate developer Robert Mericle.

It’s long been speculated that Conahan was a key figure in orchestrating the scheme that resulted in charges against himself, former judge Mark Ciavarella, Powell and Mericle. A court document filed Tuesday by federal prosecutors reveals new details about the depth of his involvement.

The document, a reply to dozens of pre-trial motions filed by attorneys for Conahan and Ciavarella, portrays Conahan as a puppet master and Ciavarella as a willing assistant who pulled some of the strings, but who left most of the details to Conahan.

Conahan, Powell and Mericle have all reached deals to plead guilty to charges for their roles in the scheme, while Ciavarella is awaiting trial.

Prosecutors allege both Conahan and Ciavarella demanded kickbacks from Powell, but it was Conahan, they say, who directed the plan to conceal the source of some of the money by falsely portraying it as rental fees for Powell’s use of a Florida condominium owned by the ex-judges’ wives.

Excerpts from conversations that Powell, who turned government informant in 2008, recorded with Conahan indicate that Ciavarella did not even know Conahan had brokered a deal with Powell to disguise the payments as rental fees.

“Listen, you paid me rent for my condo. You didn’t pay me rent for my condo to shut the juvenile detention center down or fix cases,” Conahan said in one conversation. “Mark doesn’t know ... I talked to you because I wanted to keep him outta this.”

In addition, it was Conahan who directed Powell how to disguise part of the payments he accepted from Mericle on the ex-judges’ behalf. Conahan had Powell deposit the money into one of his accounts, then pay it out to a fictitious consultant for Beverage Marketing, a beverage distributorship Conahan owned.

Ciavarella also did not know that Powell had been paying part of the kickbacks in cash that was stuffed into FedEx boxes and delivered to Conahan by a female employee of Powell’s law office, whose name was redacted.

Powell’s law partner, Jill Moran, was prothonotary at the time the payments were being made. In February 2009 she signed a consent agreement with prosecutors that allowed her to avoid criminal charges in exchange for cooperating with the investigation into others.

According to the agreement, Moran told prosecutors that people she knew tried, without her full knowledge or consent, to use her to facilitate frauds against county residents.

Moran’s attorney, Frank Nocito, declined comment Thursday regarding whether she is the intermediary described in the court documents. Moran could not be reached for comment.

The court document shows Powell, Conahan and Ciavarella were concerned the intermediary, whom Powell described as the “weak link,” had already told authorities of the payments. Conahan took a lead role in devising a plan to discredit her, according to an excerpt of the recorded conversations in which Conahan says he will deny he received any boxes from the woman. If she claims Powell gave her the boxes, he suggested the men claim they contained documents, not money.

The government’s reply also provides new insight into Conahan’s involvement with the contract he signed in 2002 that guaranteed PA Child Care $1.3 million annually, and details behind the sealing of a 2004 state Department of Public Welfare audit that was critical of the facility.

Powell, at Conahan’s direction, had obtained an initial loan to construct PA Child Care from Minersville Bank. He needed additional money, but banks were reluctant to lend the funds without assurance the detention center would be successful. Conahan then signed a “placement guarantee,” which Powell used to support a financing package.

According to prosecutors, Powell notified Conahan that the draft of the audit disclosed irregularities in billings and costs. Conahan then advised Powell to file a motion to seal the audit, alleging it contained proprietary information. He assured Powell he would grant the motion.

The government’s reply also indicates that Conahan played an active role in pressuring probation officials to increase admissions to PA Child Care.

Ciavarella, who served as juvenile court judge, has taken the brunt of the blame for that aspect of the case. Prosecutors allege he rejected non-custodial treatment plans recommended by probation officers, and also pressured them to detain children they believed should be released.

But the government’s reply shows Conahan was also involved. It cites an incident in February 2003 when one or more probation officers were summoned to Ciavarella’s office and put on the phone with Conahan.

“Michael Conahan expressed displeasure with delays in admissions of juvenile offenders to PA Child Care. Thereafter weekly reports were often provided to Mark Ciavarella indicating the number of beds utilized at PA Child Care,” the document says.