UPDATE: CORRUPT JUDGES CONVICTED FOR INCARCERATING JUVENILES IN EXCHANGE FOR KICKBACKS–JUDGE REJECTS PLEA BARGAIN

Former Judges Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. of the Luzerne County, Pennsylvania juvenile court and Michael T. Conahan of the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas plead guilty to wire fraud and tax evasion. The pleas were a result of an investigation which showed that they accepted kickbacks in exchange for sending juveniles to a private jail. They entered into plea agreements under which each would do 87 months in Federal prisons. U. S District Judge Edward M. Kosik rejected the plea agreement and gave the defendants ten days to decide whether they want to withdraw their pleas and go to trial or whether they want to let the judge sentence them to a prison term in excess of the 87 months. They are facing a maximum sentence of 25 years,

Judge Kosic found Conahan and Caivarella to be insufficiently contrite. Conahan refused to discuss his motives for taking money from PA Child Care, the owner of the private juvenile jail in his interview with the U. S. Probation Office. Ciavarella, in a television interview, apologized to everyone except the children who he sent to the jail. He said, “I didn’t do anything wrong relative to any juvenile. I never took a dime for sending a kid away. All I ever did is what I thought was in the best interest of that child,” Although according to Judge Kosic there is plenty of evidence to the contrary.