Greg Zappala, at right, is pictured here with Robert Powell when they opened PA Child Care together in 2003. -

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U.S. judges admit to jailing children for money Thu Feb 12, 2009 5:36pm EST By Jon Hurdle PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Two judges pleaded guilty on Thursday to accepting more than $2.6 million from a private youth detention center in Pennsylvania in return for giving hundreds of youths and teenagers long sentences. http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE51B7B320090212 -

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Above is a picture of the two scum money men behind the scheme. While they are trying to push everything off on the judges who are scum in their own cesspool, these two are as dirty IMHO as are the judges. This is not Greg Zappala's first ripoff of the taxpayer at the expense of children either. He was involved with the JP Morgan bond ripoff of school boards throughout Pennsylvania as well. Here is the article on the school board bond ripoff: "What New York-based JPMorgan Chase didn't tell them, the transcript shows, was that the bank would get more in fees than the school district would get in cash: $1 million. The complex deal, which placed taxpayer money at risk, was linked to four variables involving interest rates. Three years later, as interest rate benchmarks went the wrong way for the school district, the Erie board paid $2.9 million to JPMorgan to get out of the deal, which officials now say they didn't understand. "That was like a sucker punch," Barker says. "It's not about the district and the superintendent. It's about resources being sucked out of the classroom. If it's happening here, it's happening in other places." ..." "The board relied on an old friend, with the kind of connections that go far in western Pennsylvania: football and politics. The district put its trust in municipal finance firm Russell Rea Zappala & Gomulka Holdings Inc., known as RRZ. Greg Zappala, head of JPMorgan's office in Cranberry Township just north of Pittsburgh, is the son of former Pennsylvania Supreme Court Chief Justice Stephen Zappala and the brother of Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala Jr. Greg Zappala, 46, played football for the University of Miami Hurricanes in the early 1980s. He was a roommate of Jim Kelly, a Pittsburgh-born, Hall of Fame quarterback who led the Buffalo Bills to four Super Bowls. Zappala's uncle, Charles Zappala, was an RRZ executive. In 1990, Greg Zappala became a broker with the firm. One of the founders was Andy Russell, formerly of the Pittsburgh Steelers. In 2003, JPMorgan bought the firm's municipal unit: RRZ Public Markets Inc., which Zappala ran. The company had worked for the Butler Area School District since 1991. There was no competition when the former RRZ bankers paid $730,000 for an option to refinance, five years in the future, $39 million of bonds sold by the school district in 1998. " http://www.bloomberg.com/news/marketsmag/mm_0308_story2.html We need to rid our society of these leaches that suck off the future of our children! Followup to original post: LUZERNE COUNTY JUDICIAL SCANDAL

Posted: 12:00 AM Updated: 12:30 AM

Class action suits filed vs. judges

Suits are first to be filed against judges Mark Ciavarella Jr. and Michael T. Conahan.

By Terrie Morgan-Besecker http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-213205/# Law & Order Reporter SCRANTON - Two class action lawsuits have been filed against two county judges and several others who are alleged to have participated in a scheme to place juveniles at two detention centers that are the focus of a probe into the Luzerne County judiciary. The complaints, filed Thursday and Friday in federal court, are the first of several lawsuits expected to be filed in connection with the juvenile court scandal that led to criminal charges against judges Mark Ciavarella Jr. and Michael T. Conahan. The suits were separately filed by attorney Michael Cefalo of West Pittston on behalf of Florence Wallace of Shavertown and her 15-year-old daughter, and attorney Barry H. Dyller of Wilkes-Barre on behalf of 13 juveniles and their parents. Wallace's daughter, Bernadine, 15, was incarcerated in a wilderness detention camp in 2007 after appearing before Ciavarella without an attorney on charges of making terroristic threats on myspace.com. The complaints seek damages as potentially hundreds of other juveniles who are alleged to have been improperly detained in order to permit the judges and others to enrich themselves. In addition to Ciavarella and Conahan, the complaints name Gregory Zappala, owner of PA Child Care and Western PA Child Care; his former partner, attorney Robert Powell; local developer Robert Mericle, who built the centers, and Mid Atlantic Youth Services Corp., the agency that provided the treatment program and staff at the centers. The suit also names the wives of Conahan and Ciavarella, plus various businesses owned by the judges and Powell, including his law firm, the Powell Law Group of Drums. Dyller's suit also named Sandra Brullo, individually and in her capacity as chief juvenile probation officer. Ciavarella and Conahan pleaded guilty Thursday to charges they accepted more than $2.6 million in kickbacks in exchange for rulings that benefited the owners and builder of PA Child Care in Pittston Township and Western PA Child Care in Butler County. Cefalo, who filed the suit in conjunction with a Pittsburgh law firm, alleges the defendants engaged in "racketeering activity" by utilizing the mail and wire transfers to disguise the source of the income the judges realized from the kickbacks. "At the hands of two grossly corrupt judges and several conspirators, hundreds of Pennsylvania children, their families and loved ones, were victimized and their civil rights violated," Cefalo said in a prepared statement. "It's our intent to make sure that the system rights this terrible injustice and holds those responsible accountable." Most of the allegations in the complaints mirror the criminal complaint that was filed against Ciavarella and Conahan on Jan. 26 by the U.S. Attorney's office. The criminal complaint alleged the judges used their positions to make a number of favorable rulings, including closing the county-run juvenile center, and to ensure the PA Child Care and Western PA Child Care flourished. Ciavarella, the county's longtime juvenile judge, was accused of sending juveniles there, even when probation officers recommended the child be sent home. Complete article at: http://www.timesleader.com/news/Class_action_suits_filed_vs__judges_02-13-2009.html