Judge allegations evoke reactions

Times Leader Staff

While all eyes have been on the Luzerne County Courthouse in recent months, all ears were on desktop radios under the dome Monday afternoon.

Luzerne County Public Safety officers Sam Salvo and Kenneth Holley listen to the radio in their booth along River Street Monday. They heard a federal prosecutor detail charges against two Luzerne County judges during a press conference.

Clark Van Orden photos/The Times Leader

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A walk through the courthouse found plenty of workers carrying out their duties as a live radio feed delivered the news: Two Luzerne County judges have agreed to plead guilty and serve 87 months in prison in connection with concealing $2.6 million from January 2003 to April 2007.

Sheriff Michael A. Savokinas and some of his deputies listened intently as the guilty pleas and the allegations were detailed by U.S. Attorney Martin Carlson.

“It’s a black eye for the citizens of Luzerne County,” Savokinas said, standing in the basement of the courthouse. “It’s just pure greed. People think they’re above the law.”

Luzerne County District Attorney Jacqueline Musto Carroll, who attended the press conference in Scranton, also called the charges a black eye but said she is confident the county can move forward in a positive direction.

“I think this is the beginning of the end of the darkest days of our county,” she said. “We can look at this as a bright spot, that things have turned around and no longer will these sorts of things be tolerated.”

Former Judge Ann Lokuta, who also attended the Scranton event, called the charges a “sad commentary” on the county’s judiciary.

Lokuta said she was particularly troubled by allegations that Ciavarella placed juveniles in the detention center, even though probation department officials did not believe it was necessary.

What would she say to Ciavarella and Conahan to their faces?

“I would tell them I’m disgraced by their behavior,” she said.

Luzerne County Commissioner Chairwoman Maryanne Petrilla said she was “sad for the employees and sad for the taxpayers.

“Our employees work hard and deserve better,” Petrilla said. “Most of our taxpayers live on fixed incomes and they deserve better as well. However, tomorrow is a new day and we are moving the county forward.”

Outside the courthouse, just across River Street, Kenneth Holley and Sam Salvo were huddled in the public safety booth listening to Carlson’s comments on the radio. Both nodded as the accusations were made and reacted angrily when they heard how long the two judges had agreed to serve in prison.

“Not enough,” Holley said. “They should have got more time. They should have got 25 years.”

An elected constable in Wilkes-Barre who doubles as a county public safety officer, Holley was a harsh critic of the judges who “took an oath each year just like I do. They didn’t uphold theirs.”

Though upset by what they heard on the radio, neither the public safety officers nor the sheriff said they were surprised, mostly because the rumor winds have been swirling for more than a year.

“I don’t put a lot of faith in rumors,” Savokinas said. “But you keep hearing stuff. Today it came to a head and the rumors are not rumors anymore. It’s not a surprise, but it’s still very shocking.”

The news of the alleged corruption in the county judiciary quickly spread throughout the county as Northeastern Pennsylvanians of all ages and backgrounds weighed in on the events of the day:

• State Rep. Todd Eachus, D-Butler Township, called the charges a black eye for the Hazleton area community.

Conahan served three terms as a district judge in Hazleton after being appointed to the position in 1997. He comes from a prominent family in the city. His father, the late Joseph B. Conahan, was a mortician who ended 20 years of GOP rule in the city when the Democrat was elected mayor in 1961.

Eachus said he knew Conahan well, adding it’s “hard in a small town not to know everyone. It’s my job to know everyone.”

Eachus said county voters invested “a tremendous amount of trust and respect” in Conahan and Ciavarella. “These two men betrayed that trust, at least as represented. … They should be made to reimburse any misappropriation of moneys from this ill-gotten gain to the hard-working taxpayers of Luzerne County.” he said.

Eachus said he hopes the men are “punished to the fullest extent of the law.”

• Pat Fay, First District Democratic Chairman, called the filing of charges against Conahan “disappointing, but I don’t know enough about it, so I don’t want to say too much.”

Fay called Conahan a “great guy” and “a very good friend of ours and he always will be, and we’ll stand by him.”

Fay said: “He did a lot for this area. He was always there to help people.”

• William “Joe” Fay who worked to get Conahan elected, said: “I always thought he was a good man, and I still do think he’s a very good man. … I don’t understand what went wrong.”

• U.S. Rep. Chris Carney, D-Dimock Township: “The details of these indictments represent an enormous betrayal of the public trust and a complete disservice to our entire community, most especially our young people. Our judges should be upholding the law, not using their position to enrich themselves. We must be ever vigilant that we have justice in our justice system.”

• Terry Casey, chairman of the Luzerne County Republican Party: “The indictments are a black eye for the region. It’s a very sad day for the county. While it may be the first major step to cleaning it up, it’s not really good for anybody. I feel bad for the honest judges who do their jobs every day with integrity. They have to endure this embarrassment. This is not a partisan political issue; this is about the area in which we all live. It’s about these two guys taking it upon themselves for personal gain. It really is a shame.”

• Jimmy Zambito, owner of Tony’s Restaurant in Kingston: “This has been a long time coming. I think it’s a good step in the right direction. Maybe the Republicans can get their act together now; if not now, they never will.”

• Rose Smith, Mountain Top, shopping at Walmart: “All politicians are the same. They take money from the taxpayers and this is what we get in return.”

• Carol Weale, Wilkes-Barre, at the Wyoming Valley Mall: “I’m glad to hear they didn’t get away with it. They’re going to jail? Wow. It seems politicians always get away with everything, but they are the ones that are supposed to set the good examples – especially judges.”

Staff writers Jennifer Learn-Andes, Terrie Morgan-Besecker, Bill O’Boyle, Andrew Seder and Steve Mocarsky contributed to this report.