Luzerne ex-judge gets 28-year sentence
By Craig R. McCoy
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
SCRANTON - A disgraced Luzerne County judge was sentenced to 28 years in federal prison Thursday for his conviction on charges of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments in connection with the operation of the counties' juvenile center.
The ex-judge, Mark A. Ciavarella, Jr., 61, was given the harsh sentence after he told the judge that he apologized for unethical behavior but had never taken "cash for kids."
He was found guilty in February of twelve counts of racketeering, conspiracy, fraud and filing false tax returns. The jury acquitted him on 27 other counts of bribery and extortion, as he pointed out to the judge before he was sentenced.
Ciavarella, for years the head of juvenile court in the county, was charged with the former president judge there in a 2.8 million dollar scheme to enrich themselves through their control of juvenile justice in Luzerne County.
The other ex-judge, Michael T. Conahan, 59, pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing, as are other key conspirators in the plot, including the builder and an owner of a for-profit juvenile detention center that was at the heart of the corruption.
Federal prosecutors, saying that Ciavarella has used children as "pawns to enrich himself" showed the jury how the two judges had used their political and judicial power to shut Luzerne Counties' government run juvenile facility a decade ago. This created a business opportunity for a developer, Robert Powell, and a builder Robert Mericle. FULL STORY
One down, several thousand more to go across the country...
Fox News Warren Elly knows the Judges and all the Officials who took my child as a favor to him and placed her with Jon Elly and Jenivieve Elly. Because Jenivieve Elly is a spoiled older sister who pitched a fit till she got what she wanted, Her little sister. My baby. Age 15. I have never in 30 years had an allegation of abuse./neglect. Enter the Elly family and their big connections and I lose my youngest child for NOTHING. Case 511990 Tampa Florida , this child needs to be lawfully returned to her mother. who she has not been allowed to talk to one minute alone in 19 months. WHY? To protect themselves , not my child! There are no criminal charges. My child is being held illegally and like the emails I found from Lona Elly, "Warren has connections". My child has been taken and kept illegally, little did they know in the beginning that by the end of this, Warren Elly would no longer be with FOX NEWS. Early Retirement or Ethics Violations? You be the Judge. My child and I have the Constitutional Right to Due Process, a Fair and Unbiased Court, Not a court where Warren Elly knows every person in power from Judges to Prosecutors. This case %11990 Tampa Florida is illegal, abusive to both my child and myself. But I do have to say a Public Thank You To Iva Chirgotis, Lona Elly, Warren Elly, Jon Elly and Jenivieve Elly. Thank you for showing who you really truly are and what you are capable of doing to an helpless sweet innocent child for your own personal gain and selfishness. The true you is shining thru, for all to see. You saw my daughter as a bounty, as you thought I would have money from a lawsuit. You are bullies and child abusers, my own family took my child, and put me out in the street to die. Nice try. You showed your true selves.
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