Carolee will not go quietly into the night

To the surprise of no one former Prothonotary Carolee Medico Olenginski is threatening to sue Luzerne County because she was fired by county manager Bob Lawton for obstructing the transition of her office to the new records division mandated by the home rule charter. She got into a turf war with deputy Art Bobbouine and called Lawton a "dictator." That wasn't the only insult she hurled at Lawton.

Now she is threatening to sue claiming age discrimination and her lawyer claimed that Bobbouine stabbed her in the back. She opposed the charter and sued to try to keep her job. In the past she a problem with the carpeting in her office and took legal action about filing cabinets in her first stint as Prothonotary. I actually voted for Carolee in 2009 after Jill Moran proved to be such a disaster and the Dems nominated the wife of a corrupt WVW School Board member.

Betty has the play by play at Pure Bunkum

He Said. She Said

 The papers have the story

 Ex-official fighting dismissal

Axed prothonotary says ageism behind ouster

 

There is a legal question about whether or not the County Manager can dismiss an elected official even if she continues to be paid. Does the the new charter trump the 3rd class county code? Carolee will probably take this to the Supreme Court. 

End of the line for Lokuta

It was along shot that the US Supreme Court would hear case the case of Judge Ann Lokuta and yesterday they made it official.

U.S. Supreme Court denies Lokuta a hearing

I have linked to many stories of the last few years documenting the raw deal Lokuta got from the Court of Judicial Discipline and the appellate courts. She complained to the CJD in 2006 about Michael Conahan, alleging wide-spread corruption including case-fixing, mob ties and the improper placement of juveniles in a privately owned juvenile detention facility. Her allegations turned out to be true.


Remember that she was not convicted of doing anything illegal and her chief accusers are admitted criminals led by Judges Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella, Conahan's cousin Bill Sharkey who is in jail for being a thief and "poor, poor pitiful me" disgraced former Prothonotary Jill Moran. One of the people that sat in judgement of her was Richard Sprague who was a lawyer for Robert Powell who was one of the people paying off the Judges. Powell is a law partner and business partner of Jill Moran. Powell, Moran, Conahan and Ciavarella are also business partners as well as Pat Judge.

This is another miscarriage of justice and cries out for reform of our judicial system.
Judges on Merit has been pushing to change the way we select statewide judges advocating a vetting process and appointment system for appellate court judges. The present system of electing judges has some serious problems. The judicial elections are usually under the radar races decided by party affiliation and who can raise the most money from the lawyers that will later appear before them. I would go further and appoint the judges of the county court of common pleas. Do you think Michael Conahan could have a survived a background check after his implication in the Empire drug ring?

No pension for you

Two ex-judges denied pensions


Former Luzerne County judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan are not entitled to their pensions and could be liable to reimburse the state $4.3 million for higher juvenile placement costs it says are tied to the kickback scheme the jurists engaged in, the State Employees’ Retirement System has determined.


Conahan has been collecting 8 grand a month since he retired and Ciavarella was slated to get over $5K but has not received any payments. Ciavarella also tried to cash out his contributions after he was charged but the state pension fund refused his request. Conahan's timing was better and got a lump sum payment of $302,777.09.

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And the assertion of Robert Powell that he was strong armed into paying the Juvie Brothers all that money in bribes is laughable. They also forced him to invest in the real estate deal with them and Jill Moran in Mountaintop. The fact that Powell was wearing a wire after the Feds pinched him hit the papers this week and I'm sure that my faithful readers will remember that was first reported on this blog in January.


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The headlines about Bob Mericle and Judge Toole should be coming soon.

Lokuta gets a break

HARRISBURG – The state Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a stay of the Court of Judicial Discipline’s ruling that removed judge Ann Lokuta from office and directed the Secretary of the Commonwealth not to place her judicial seat on the May ballot.


Lokuta has contended all along that charges against her were orchestrated by admitted crook Judge Michael Conahan with the help of the other Juvie Brother Mark Ciavarella and Conahan's cousin Bill Sharkey because she was cooperating with the Federal corruption probe. Throw in the involvement of his business partners Jill Moran, Richard Sprague and Patrick Judge in this seemed to convice the state Supreme Court stay her removal from the bench because of after-discovered evidence that was revealed as part of the corruption probe in the county judiciary. The Supremes ordered the Court of Judicial Discipline to determine whether it should reconsider it's decision to remove her and grant a new hearing.

This throws a monkey wrench into the campaigns of the 17 Judicial hopefuls because now there will be only 2 seats up for grabs instead of 3.


Timeline from the CV:

April 2004: A complaint from a former Lokuta staffer leads to an investigation by the state Judicial Conduct Board.

April 2005: The Conduct Board formally informs Lokuta of its investigation.


November 2006: Lokuta is charged with six counts of misconduct by the state Judicial Conduct Board. She is accused of being abusive to court staff and attorneys and late or absent for court proceedings.

September 2007-January 2008: Lokuta is tried before a three-judge panel from the state Court of Judicial Discipline. Lokuta testifies she is the victim of a conspiracy orchestrated by former president judge Michael T. Conahan, who was angered because she talked to federal investigators about his handling of case assignments. Conahan used his position to influence other prosecution witnesses, she testifies.

Oct. 30, 2008: The Court of Judicial Discipline finds Lokuta guilty.

Nov. 5, 2008: The court suspends Lokuta without pay.

Dec. 9, 2008: Lokuta is officially removed from the bench.

Jan. 6, 2009: Lokuta appeals to the state Supreme Court.

Jan. 26, 2009: Conahan and fellow judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr., who also testified against Lokuta, are charged with accepting $2.6 million in kickbacks. They eventually plead guilty and are relieved of judicial duties.

Feb. 3, 2009: Another witness against Lokuta, county court administrator William T. Sharkey Sr., is charged with embezzling $70,000 in court funds. He eventually pleads guilty.

March 3, 2009: Lokuta asks the state Supreme Court to postpone an election to fill her seat.

March 25, 2009: The Supreme Court cancels the election and orders the Court of Judicial Discipline to consider holding a hearing on whether evidence of courthouse corruption involving prosecution witnesses would have affected the outcome of Lokuta’s trial.

Incestuous criminal cauldron

That is probably a better name than Juvie Brothers or Cash for Kids to describe what has been going on in Luzerne County for years. Everybody who is anybody is connected in the courthouse, statehouse, city hall or a local school board be it by a relative, high/law school pal or just did it the old fashion way by giving a campaign contribution.

The headline comes from Judge Ann Lokuta's latest filing in her appeal to the PA Supreme Court regarding her removal from the bench because she was occasionally late for work, sometimes didn't take a shower and was rude to people. By that standard I think many of us might be out of work.


When you look at the cast of crooks that wanted to get rid of Lokuta because she contends that she was cooperating with the investigation I think that at the least she deserves a new hearing. Remember that she was not convicted of doing anything illegal and her chief accusers are admitted criminals led by Judges Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella, Conahan's cousin Bill Sharkey who is headed to jail for being a thief and "poor, poor pitiful me" disgraced former Prothonotary Jill Moran. One of the people that sat in judgement of her was Richard Sprague who was a lawyer for Robert Powell who was one of the people paying off the Judges. Powell is a law partner and business partner of Jill Moran. Powell, Moran, Conahan and Ciavarella are also business partners.
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It doesn't begin or end with this case as we all know the only way to get a job in local government is to know somebody or pay them off with a campaign contribution. Just about every School District in the country is screaming for teachers but around here you better have a relative on the board or they won't even look at you. And we always lament why our educated young people keep moving away.

Jill Moran resigns

This is Luzerne County Prothonotary Jill Moran last day on the job. . The TL reports she spent yesterday barracaded in her office saying goodbye to colleagues. It may be the most time she spent in the office over the last 7 years because she had other things to do like building houses in Mountaintop that never actually got built.

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She is a law partner of PA Child Care owner Robert Powell who has been paying off the Juvie Brothers to send kids to his private for profit juvenile jail in Pittston Twp. Powell, Moran, Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan are investers/partners in W-Cat Inc . that has defaulted on loans to a bank run by Conahan and Louis DeNaples. There are other investors in the project that are not part of any of illegal activities and they got screwed. She protected Powell by altering an IRS tax lien in the county database to read John Doe. I could go on and on.

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Complaint and Compromise

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She claims that some people allegedly attempted, without Moran’s "full knowledge and consent, to use Moran to facilitate frauds.”

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I don't buy it.

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Deputy Prothonotary Elizabeth Decker will run the office until the winner of the election takes office next January. 2 Republicans and 3 Democrats are running to replace her.

Luzerne County Prothonotary

I'm surprised that there only 2 Republican candidates seeking to replace poor 'used and abused' Jill Moran who had to resign because of her agreement to cooperate with the US attorney's investigation into her business dealings with the Juvie Brothers Conahan and Ciavarella and her law partner Participant number 1 Robert Powell.

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The Mayor of the breakaway Republic of Bear Creek Village Walter Michell (above) was animated about the lack remorse and a "toxic sense of perverted entitlement" in the "Democrat party" that has run the Luzerne County government into a ditch. Echoing Howard Beale he said "We can't stand it and we're not going to take it anymore."

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Former Prothonotary Carolee Medico Olenginski (right) stressed that "experience does count." Unlike Moran she stated that she worked overtime when she held the office and increased revenue from the office during her tenure citing that the copy machine alone produced $21,000 in a year when it previously took in zilch. She paid tribute to former Democratic Controller Steve Flood saying he was our watchdog, "He said they were crooks and he was right."

Juvie brothers update

There are now 3 class action lawsuits on behalf of the children who were the victims of Judges Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella who railroaded them through the juvinile justice system. The suits says the judges and other defendants conspired to perpetrate "what ranks as one of the largest and most serious violations of children's rights in the history of the American legal system.



Luzerne County President Judge Chet Muroski confirmed that the probe involves more than the PA Child Care investigation. This thing is expanding into allegations that civil cases were being fixed.



Judges Peter Paul Olszewski and Michael Toole have been interviewed by the FBI and we wonder if their stays at the condo in Florida has any thing to do with the feds interest.

Luzerne County Prothonotary Jill Moran is playing "Lets make a Deal" claiming that some people allegedly attempted, without Moran’s "full knowledge and consent, to use Moran to facilitate frauds.” Mark Guydish in the TL doesn't buy it. Moran has always claimed to be the unintentional political puppet, not the puppeteer; the piece being played, not the player. It’s a role she took on again this week with the deal struck in the federal courthouse investigation. She didn’t commit fraud, she was used by those committing it. She is the head of the W-Cat company that was suppossed to be building houses in Mountaintop. Some of her partners were the the Juvie Brother Judges and her law partner Robert Powell plus some people that I know that are going to be hurt .


Conahan's cousin Bill Sharkey was officially fired after pleading guilty to stealing more than $70,000 of seized gambling money over 10 years. He stopped reporting to his courthouse job on Aug. 20, a day after federal agents served a subpoena on his office for records connected to money seized in illegal gambling cases. During his leave from work, Sharkey maintained possession of a county vehicle and county mobile phone. Ciavarella approved the paid leave of absence for Sharkey. Who the hell is in charge, if anyone, of keeping track of county vehicles?

Conahan's brother in law millionaire psychologist Dr. Frank Vita and forger Sandra M. Brulo are also in trouble.

Jill Moran out

Times Leader File photo / Clark Van Orden

As predicted on this blog a few weeks ago Luzerne County Prothonotary Jill Moran has resigned. Her business ties to the the Juvie Brothers, Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan, and law partner of Participant 1, Robert Powell has made her position untenable. The way that this has been playing out an indictment can't be far off.

She falsified a tax lien by changing Powell's name to John Doe. At the time I wasn't sure if that was a crime but a few lawyer friends say it is and the Feds seem to agree. During the last election Carolee Medico Olenginski accused her of not spending much time in the office and it was revealed that she had a clerk, Lana Bidwell, sign her name to official documents when she wasn't around proving Carolee's point.

She was a key attorney for Robert Powell's and Greg Zappala's PA Child Care facility that is the center of the corruption charges against the Judges and is listed as the head of W-Cat Inc., a firm that is building The Sanctuary, a town house development in Wright Township with Conahan, Ciavarella, Powell and others that recently went belly up.

I wonder if she got a chance to stay at the Florida condo and take a ride on the yacht, Reel Justice.

Luzerne County Prothonotary Jill Moran is a deadbeat, according to bank

Moran holds the offices of president, secretary and treasurer of W-Cat that was supposed to be building townhouses in Wright Township. The project is a bust and the other investors include her law partner Robert Powell and judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan. Louis DeNaples bank, First National Community Bank of Dunmore, sued Tuesday seeking $4.15 million in connection with defaulted loans they guaranteed for the failed townhouse development.

Luzerne County rumors

I take 2 days off from blogging and all hell brakes loose.


First off the rumor of Bill Sharkey was stealing the confiscated proceeds of video poker machines that are in just about every bar in the area turns out to be true. Sharkey is a long time employee of the courts who, until now, was most famous for engaging in that time honored local tradition of getting his relatives on the public payroll. His son works as juvenile probation officer as well as his daughter and his sister-in-law is in domestic relations. He's making $97,000 a year but still felt the need to embezzle $70,000 over the last 10 years. It's ironic that Governor Rendell announced today that he wants to legalize video poker machines to help pay for higher education.

I've heard it from enough reliable sources now to predict that Prothonotary Jill Moran will resign if she hasn't already. She is a business partner of the Juvie Brothers (Big Dan wins the contest) Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan and a law partner of Participant 1, Robert Powell. She even falsified a tax lien changing Powell's name to John Doe. At the time I wasn't sure if that was a crime but a few lawyer friends say it is and the Feds seem to agree.

This one caught me by surprise. Luzerne County Commissioner Greg Skrepenak said he did not try to commit suicide. He also denies that he took any payoffs when he and Todd Vonderheid approved a 20 year $58 million lease for PA Child Care. I hope that is true but Skrep and the other Bond Brother have some explaining to do.

I'll believe it when I see it

The Times Leader has another story today citing anonymous sources saying that two county judges and a county court official are expected to face charges. No names or crimes were listed. We've been going through this for a few months and I'm getting to feel like I'm hearing the boy who called wolf.

The speculation centers on the tangled web involving Judges Mike Conahan and Mark Ciavarella with PA Child Care owners Robert Powell and would be Hazleton Airport builder Greg Zapalla. Prothonotary Jill Moran also has ties to a company, W-Cat Inc., that they all have money invested in.

Then there is the Debit Card scandal that the Secret Service is investigating and the no bid contracts at the prison that some secret police outfit is supposed to be looking into.

Moran vs. Lokuta?

Mike Sisak has this tidbit in today's CV:


Luzerne County Prothonotary Jill Moran said Thursday she has not made a decision on whether she will run for re-election this fall. Moran, a partner in the Butler Township law firm The Powell Group, could face a challenge from former Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas Judge Ann H. Lokuta, who has expressed interest in the position.


If this does happen it will the most entertaining race of the year pitting the old boy network against someone who stepped on their toes and paid the price.

What the hell is a Prothonotary?

One of my most popular posts is What the hell is a Prothonotary?



Incumbent Luzerne County Prothonotary Jill Moran should not seek reelection. I have an archive of her missteps and will repeat them if she decides to run again.



I've heard a few names that are willing to take on the challenge. We really need Home Rule.

2009 elections

In Luzerne County we will be electing a Controller, Prothonotary, Register of Wills and Jury Commissioners. The Controller's spot has been vacant since Maryanne Petrilla was elected Commissioner and Rapid Edward has not nominated a replacement. Incumbent Prothontary Jill Moran has drawn some fire about her work habits and business dealings and the speculation is that she will not seek a third term. Democrat Dottie Stankovic was unopposed in the general election four years ago although the good old boys tried to knock her off in the primary. Jerry Bonner is the Democratic Jury Commissioner and I can't even remember who holds the Republican slot.

Jobs like Prothonotary and Register of Wills are clerical positions that should not even be elected offices. Same goes for Jury Commissioner who's only official duty is to once a year hit the print button on a computer to get a list of prospective jurors. But we will have elections for these jobs until we get Home Rule.

As usual the action will be in the Democratic primary that will probably make the November election a formality. I hope that I'm wrong about that prediction and new county GOP Chairman Terry Casey can recruit some quality candidates and the back mountain money guys raise some serious cash for them.

I will be posting some scuttlebutt about who may be running for these positions in the coming days. If you have heard any names being tossed around let me know in the comments or toss me an email.

We will also get to pick at least one new Judge plus various school board members and municipal offices.

Luzerne County scandals

No indictments yet but the buzz says it's just a matter of days. I've lost track of how many investigations are going on in the county.


The latest one is about the theft of funds from the treasurer’s office that DA Jackie Mo handed off to the FBI. I'm sure if someone gets caught with their fingers in the till they will get house arrest just like Robert Pritchard and Carl Salitis.


The more serious probe centers on the tangled web involving Judges Mike Conahan and Mark Ciavarella with PA Child Care owners Robert Powell and would be Hazleton Airport builder Greg Zapalla. Prothonotary Jill Moran also has ties to a company, W-Cat Inc., that they all have money invested in.


Then there is the Debit Card scandal that the Secret Service is investigating and the no bid contracts at the prison that some secret police outfit is supposed to be looking into.


I need a scorecard to keep track of all of this. Will someone help me out?


Luzerne County's greatest hits, so far:

Debit Cards

Sam Hyder

Luzerne County Prison

Bonds

No Bid Contracts

The Latest Outrage in Luzerne County



Did I miss something?


HOME RULE

Sleep well

Top to bottom, left to right: Senior Judge Michael T. Conahan, Pennsylvania Child Care owners Robert Powell and Greg Zapalla, Luzerne County President Judge Mark A. Ciavarella , Prothonotary Jill A. Moran, Commissioners Greg Skrepenak and Todd Vonderheid.

No sex, drugs or rock n' roll

Just an old fashioned cooking the books for a friend. At least one question has been answered, Luzerne County Prothonotary Jill Moran does show up at the office once in a while. What she does when she is there is another question.

DA: Feds eyeing ‘Doe’ flap

Changing the name on a tax lien for a pal may or may not be a crime but it sure doesn't look good. Our crusading District Attorney/Judicial candidate typically punted the issue, “Because it involves federal Internal Revenue Service issues and federal liens, it would be looked at by officials at that level,” he said.

A Big Fat Slob and The Lu Lac Political Letter have more. Like many of us Mark wants to see Jill in a tube top.

The Good ole boys/girls

Luzerne County Prothonotary Jill Moran filed an IRS tax lien notice under another name – John Doe – for her law partner Robert Powell. A $279,322 Internal Revenue Service lien. She said she thought it was an error on the part of the IRS.

She said she did not give her law partner special treatment and would treat others the same. Yeah, right. LV Dem's Beware of the Good Ole Boys tells us how it works.

This guy is involved in just about everything, the Hazleton airport, the sweethart deal of the juvi prison in Pittston and other projects that the taxpayers financed.

Another reason why this job should not be an elected position. Chris reminded me of it.