Opinion ID: 869748
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Ensuring Success for the New Detention

Text: Centers In January 2002, Conahan appointed Ciavarella to the Juvenile Court, a position that Ciavarella leveraged to place juvenile offenders with PACC to perpetuate the scheme. Months earlier, the outgoing President Judge had removed Ciavarella from the Juvenile Court and appointed himself, but when Conahan became President Judge, Conahan instead reappointed Ciavarella to that position as Juvenile Court Judge. By February 2003, PACC had begun operating, and Ciavarella started keeping regular tabs on how many beds were utilized at any given time. In November 2003, Ciavarella and Conahan called Powell into a meeting to discuss how many juveniles Ciavarella had sent to PACC and what the county had paid PACC for housing the juveniles. In 2003, alone, Ciavarella detained more than 100 juveniles at PACC. Based on this information and on a cursory estimate of PACC‟s profits, Ciavarella concluded that PACC was “doing very, very well” and that he “want[ed] a part of it.” App. 532-33. After Powell responded with concerns about cash flow, Ciavarella said “he didn‟t care . . . [and] want[ed] to be paid” his share. App. 535-36. The judges told Powell that they had formed the Pinnacle Group and would use it to purchase a condo, and Powell could use it to make “rent” payments. In February 2004, Pinnacle purchased an uninhabitable condo in Jupiter, Florida. From January to September 2004, Powell sent $590,000 in numerous personal and business checks to Pinnacle, identified as payments for 7 rent and marina fees, financed through Powell‟s draws on PACC and his law firm, which he kept hidden from his business partner Zappala. In July 2005 and February 2006, Ciavarella and Conahan received referral fees from Mericle for the construction of WPACC and expansion of PACC. Both payments were funneled through several conduits. Shortly thereafter, Ciavarella and Conahan again pressured Powell to make more payments. In June 2006, the judges called Powell into another meeting to discuss how much money Ciavarella had made for Powell by detaining juveniles at PACC and WPACC. For the year 2005, Ciavarella had detained more than 100 juveniles at PACC and had begun placing juveniles at WPACC. The judges told Powell, “Look, you‟re in this business, we helped you get into it, you‟re making a lot of money, you‟re going to give us some.” App. 568. Powell testified that he “wasn‟t paying them for any services rendered, [but] was paying them because they demanded it in their position of authority.” App. 568. Despite his reluctance, Powell began working with his law firm‟s Chief Financial Officer, Pat Owens, to structure transactions to withdraw large sums of cash from his law firm and from PACC and WPACC. From August to December 2006, Powell made cash payments totaling $143,500 to Ciavarella and Conahan through boxes filled with cash delivered by Powell and his law partner, Jill Moran, to Conahan and his judicial aide.