Update: Gregory Zappalla now owns Powell’s interest in PA child care.
Breaking News: Ciavarella, Conahan plead guilty to income tax charges; will serve 87 months 1:24 p.m.
Well I have said all along that the Luzerne County court system was corrupt and I guess it was proven today with the guilty pleas of Conahan and Ciavarella. Who knows who else will be charged in this case and what the ramifications are to the cases that these judges have tried. I really is a sad state of affairs when the judicial system of a state or county is corrupt. It reflects badly on all involved in that court system and it brings serious doubt to all decisions rendered by the jurist of said county.
How many cases can be appealed due to this new evidence? Who knows what the truth is since they plead guilty. There will not be a trial and the facts of all of the other crimes might never be known. There have been stories about this case for the last couple of years. There was allot of uproar about the changing of the charges for Bryan Kocis, the murder victim in another high profile case. It seems that there has been talk about the judges who were just charged had motive to kill Bryan Kocis. This is due to it being a 3rd degree felony to impede due process of law and not having Kocis register as a sexual offender under Megan’s law. There is a mandatory prison term with regards to this type of case.
There is also the possibility that there are other people who are going to be charged down the pipe as there are other things that these judges were involved in. Those who profited from the illegal activities that the judges were involved with could also be charged. Luzerne county is now under a serious microscope and there is the possibility that this latest problem could also affect the DA’s office. I guess we will just have to wait and see what happens.
Here is the news story form the Citizens Voice the Times Leader also has reported on this case.
Published: Monday, January 26, 2009 1:36 PM EST
Luzerne County judges Mark A. Ciavarella and Michael Conahan were charged today with two counts of conspiracy to impede the Internal Revenue Service in collecting federal income taxes and a scheme to defraud the citizens of Luzerne County and Pennsylvania of the right to their honest services.Ciavarella and Conahan were charged with concealing the receipt of $2.6 million between January 2003 and April 2007. They have filed a plea agreement, signed by both judges, and pleaded guilty to honest service fraud and income tax conspiracy.The judges stipulated they will resign their judgeship and be disbarred. They will serve 87 months in federal prison and make restitution as stipulated by the court.
There was also the question of misappropriations of funds with regards to the juvenile court system where Judge Conahan’s brother in law as the main psychologist for the evaluations of the people who appeared in front of his bench. There is also the the case of Conahan’s wife who was involved with a former drug dealer with regards to a auto dealership in Florida. With all of this is there any wonder why Luzerne County is up in arms with regards to their court system.
This is Elmysterio and I’m out.
It's The Black Helicopters Bitches
cedric
Virtual Web Management By Great Atlantic Media Group