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

Heading: Kickbacks to Ensure Completion of the

Text: Juvenile Detention Center As part of the plan to help Powell and Mericle ensure completion of the project, Ciavarella and Conahan engaged in various endeavors to stymie the county‟s efforts to build and operate its own facility. Most critically, when Powell had trouble securing financing for construction in late 2001, Ciavarella and Conahan agreed to create a lease between 5 PACC and Luzerne County to secure a bank loan. The judges agreed that Conahan would sign a lease in January 2002, after he became President Judge and would have the authority to bind the county. The lease, which the judges prevented any county officials from seeing, committed the county to pay $1.314 million per year to PACC in exchange for PACC housing the county‟s juvenile offenders. In February 2002, after Powell secured financing, Mericle and PACC finalized a construction contract, which included an agreement that Mericle would pay a $997,600 referral fee after he completed construction of the facility. It was Mericle‟s understanding that he would make the payment to Powell, but that Ciavarella would be the ultimate recipient. In January 2003, when construction was nearing completion, Conahan provided Powell with wire transfer instructions. Pursuant to the instructions, Mericle transferred the referral fee to Conahan and Ciavarella through a series of transactions between multiple individuals and companies to ensure the funds were not traceable. While Mericle Construction reported the payment for tax purposes, Ciavarella never reported the income. After PACC began operations, Powell and Mericle worked to develop a second juvenile detention center, Western PA Child Care (WPACC), and expand PACC from 48 beds to 60 beds. Ciavarella received referral fees for each of these projects. In July 2005, Mericle paid Ciavarella a $1 million referral fee for WPACC and in February 2006, Mericle paid Ciavarella a $150,000 referral fee for the PACC expansion. Mericle received the instructions from Ciavarella and made the payment by transferring funds to the Pinnacle Group of Jupiter, LLC, a corporation that Ciavarella, 6 Conahan, and their wives formed in January 2004. Altogether, Mericle paid $2,147,600 in referral fees to Ciavarella and Conahan.