Reply #20: A Third Judge; and a Conspiracy to Block Co. Owned Center? [View All]

http://www.law.com/jsp/pa/PubArticlePA.jsp?id=1202428987016

"Federal authorities are looking at Luzerne County Common Pleas Judge Michael Toole as part of their investigation into alleged corruption ... The focus of the investigation appears to stem from an allegation that Toole may have received a payment from attorney Robert Powell.

"...sources confirmed to The Legal that federal investigators are looking into a zoning case in which the owners of a hotel frequented by D'Elia challenged a zoning variance that would have allowed the county to build a new county-owned juvenile detention facility.

Before his election to the bench in 2003, Toole was a partner with Ciavarella at Lowery Ciavarella Rogers and Toole. Court records show that, on at least one occasion, Toole represented The Woodlands Inn & Resort — a hotel on the outskirts of Wilkes-Barre that has ties to D'Elia and that also received a pair of favorable rulings from Conahan in 2000 and 2003. There is no evidence to suggest that the plaintiffs improperly influenced either case.

The resort received another favorable ruling in 2003 from Judge Peter Paul Olszewski Jr. that blocked the construction of a county-owned juvenile detention facility near its property, because it might have scared away prospective guests. The decision essentially paved the way for the construction of PA Child Care."

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In other words, the judges were pushing the County Commissioners to sign a 20 year contract with the for-profit children's detention center. Instead, the County Commissioners wanted to build a new county-owned facility. The idea of a new county-owned facility was killed because of a zoning challenge by the owner of a hotel. The hotel was frequented by one of the corrupt judges and the regional mob boss. Coincidence???