Friday, May 28, 2010

Conahan Ran the Show, Feds Say

From the moment he took a Christmas Eve drive with Robert Powell in 2001 to check out the site for a new juvenile detention center, Michael Conahan made it clear: He was the man in charge.

Over the next seven years he proved true to his word, evidence collected by federal authorities shows. He took the lead role in soliciting more than $700,000 in kickbacks from Powell, prosecutors say, and in developing a scheme to conceal the source of that money, as well as more than $2 million paid by real estate developer Robert Mericle.

It’s long been speculated that Conahan was a key figure in orchestrating the scheme that resulted in charges against himself, former judge Mark Ciavarella, Powell and Mericle. A court document filed Tuesday by federal prosecutors reveals new details about the depth of his involvement.

The document, a reply to dozens of pre-trial motions filed by attorneys for Conahan and Ciavarella, portrays Conahan as a puppet master and Ciavarella as a willing assistant who pulled some of the strings, but who left most of the details to Conahan.

Full Article and Source:
Conahan Ran the Show, Feds Say

3 comments:

StandUp said...

Conahan was the root of it all!

Unknown said...

He had both willing & a little unwilling cooperation; not hard to find in a county with a 100 yr. or more tradition of corruption. Sad thing is: corruption is a disease that spreads as quickly as an epidemic in a society that worships money rather than God. So apparently, there are many more counties steeped in corruption, whether its a 100 yr. tradition or not. CITIZENS BETTER BECOME MUCH MORE INVOLVED IN THEIR SO CALLED GOVT. Epidemics are no joke.

Anonymous said...

If we didn't have corruption from top to bottom, Conahan couldn't be so brazen. We have a corrupt Judicial Conduct Board, a corrupt attorney disciplinary board, a corrupt AG, etc, etc.