By Tracie Mauriello
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
HAZELTON, Pa. — The former co-owner of two juvenile detention facilities pleaded guilty yesterday and will be sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison for his part in a court corruption scheme involving wrongful sentencing of young offenders.
Prosecutors say the businessman and attorney, Robert J. Powell of Hazleton, helped judges conceal crimes by falsifying records and helping conceal and disguise income to two Luzerne County juvenile court judges between 2003 and 2007.
Mr. Powell co-owned PA Child Care in Luzerne County and Western PA Child Care in Allegheny Township, Butler County, with business partner Greg Zappala. Mr. Powell, 48, sold his interest in both facilities to Mr. Zappala last summer just as the federal investigation into the judges was heating up.
The judges, Michael J. Ciavarella and Michael T. Conahan, were charged with taking millions in bribes to facilitate the construction of the two detention facilities. Both have pleaded guilty to tax evasion charges related to the scheme and agreed to serve seven years in prison.
Investigators say the judges had a financial interest in both youth facilities and that they sent children there in shackles for minor crimes, sometimes without legal representation and against probation officers’ recommendations.
For example, one 17-year-old who stole a $4 bottle of nutmeg appeared without a lawyer before Judge Ciavarella. He ended up spending more than seven months in three juvenile detention facilities, including PA Child Care and Western PA Child Care.
Federal investigators say the arrangements with the judges were worth tens of millions of dollars to the two centers, which billed county governments for children sent there.
Mr. Powell’s plea agreement also includes fines of up to $500,000. He also must forfeit his ownership of a corporate jet and a 2002 ocean yacht named “Reel Justice.”
He was charged with one count of withholding information on a crime and two counts of accessory after the fact.
Previously, his attorneys conceded that Mr. Powell made payments to the judges but that he was a victim of a shakedown and that he ultimately reported the extortion to authorities.
Mr. Powell has been cooperating in the investigation, according to the office of U.S. Attorney Martin Carlson.
The judges, along with Mr. Powell, Mr. Zappala and others connected with the detention facilities and juvenile court, are being sued by hundreds of children’s and parents claiming wrongful sentencing. Mr. Zappala is not accused of any criminal wrongdoing.
He is the son of former state Supreme Court Justice Stephen A. Zappala and brother of Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr.
Copyright 2009 P.G. Publishing Co.