Despite Red Flags About Judges, Kickback Scheme Flourished - Other Dissenters Were Also Steamrolled

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Published on Friday, 27 March 2009

Written by Ian Urbina, NY Times

Other Dissenters Were Also Steamrolled

When the county controller, Steve Flood, leaked a state audit that described the state's lease of the center as a "bad deal," the center's owner filed a "trade secrets" lawsuit against Mr. Flood, and Judge Conahan sealed the suit to limit other documents' getting out. His decision was later overturned.

"Everyone began to assume that the judges had some vested interest in the private center because they were pushing it so doggedly," one courthouse worker said. Virtually all former colleagues and courthouse workers would not allow themselves to be identified because the federal investigation into the kickback scheme was continuing and they feared for their jobs if they alienated former allies of the judges.

Mr. Powell has not been charged. His lawyer said that the judges had coerced him into paying the kickbacks and that he was cooperating with investigators.

The few officials who had concerns at the time say their hands were tied. Probation officers say they suspected that something was amiss but were overruled every time they requested lighter sentences or for sentences to be served at home. County commissioners were the only ones authorized to sign contracts for detention centers. But by eliminating money for the county center, Judge Conahan left them little alternative but to sign on to the deal for the private facility.

Prosecutors say that by sentencing juveniles to detention at twice the state average, Judge Ciavarella was holding up his end of the bargain. And by late 2003, so much money was rolling in that the two judges were struggling to hide it all. So in 2004, they bought a $785,000 condominium together in Florida to help conceal the payments, and they began disguising transactions as rent and other related fees.

"We did what we could to stop it," said Commissioner Stephen A. Urban, who repeatedly argued that the county should build its own center rather than lease the private one. "There were so many red flags that no one could mistake them as any other color."

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