From the PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER:
One of many disturbing aspects of the Luzerne County “kids-for-cash” scandal is that authorities could have stopped two allegedly corrupt judges sooner.
A new report shows that the state’s Judicial Conduct Board, which is responsible for investigating complaints of wrongdoing by judges, twiddled its thumbs as kids were shipped off to detention for minor offenses.
The board admitted that it received four complaints about former Luzerne County Judge Michael T. Conahan in 2004, 2006, and 2008. But the board failed to investigate those complaints, claiming it could have conflicted with an inquiry of a different Luzerne judge.
The conduct board’s chief counsel, Joseph Massa, told a special state commission reviewing the case that the board didn’t refer a 2006 complaint about Conahan to the U.S. Attorney’s Office until nearly 18 months later. A copy of the board’s statement was reported by the Legal Intelligencer.
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