← Conspiracy Theories, Cults, & Crimes
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Exciting news. Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes is leveling up. Starting the week of January 12th, you'll be getting two episodes every week. Wednesdays we unravel the conspiracy or the cult and on Fridays we look at a corresponding crime. Every week has a theme. Tech, bioterror, power, paranoia, you name it. Follow Conspiracy Theories, Cults and crimes now on your podcast app because you're about to dive deeper, get weirder and go darker than than ever before.
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This is crime house.
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On February 21, 2011, Judge Mark Chiverella stepped out of the federal courthouse in Scranton, Pennsylvania. But he wasn't there for work. He'd just been convicted on 12 counts, including racketeering. Despite his conviction, Mark was confident walking onto the courthouse steps. He wasn't in handcuffs. The judge let him walk free until his sentencing. As reporters swarmed him, Mark gave his answers with a smile. That is until Sandy Fonzo pushed her way to the front of the crowd and shouted at him. Do you remember me? Do you remember my son, an all star wrestler? He's gone. He shot himself in the heart, you scumbag. Sandy was talking about her son Edward. His life had been derailed when he was sentenced to a juvenile detention center over a small charge. Mark Chiverella was the one who sent him there. But not because Edward deserved it. Because someone had paid Mark to to do it. From UFO cults and mass suicides to secret CIA experiments, presidential assassinations and murderous doctors, these aren't just theories. They're real stories that blur the line between fact and fiction. I'm Vanessa Richardson and this is Conspiracy Theories, Cults and a Crime House Original. Powered by Pave Studios. Every Wednesday and Friday, I'll explore the real people at the center of the world's most shocking events and nefarious organizations. These cases are wild and I want to hear what you think at the end of each episode. Leave a comment wherever you listen. Be sure to rate, review and follow Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes to continue building this community together. And for ad free and early access to both of our weekly episodes, subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. Today, I'm looking into one conspiracy theory that turned out to be true. The Kids for Cash operation in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. If you were a teenager stepping into the courtroom of Judge Mark Ciavarella From 2003 to 2008, it didn't matter what you had done. He was probably going to send you to a juvenile detention center. Eventually, the county learned why Mark and his co conspirator Michael Conahan had been taking bribes from the private juvenile det. The more kids they sent in, the more money they made. It's a case that showed how easily the scales of justice can be tipped and it raised the question who determines whether someone is a bad apple. All that and more coming up.
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Luzerne county is nestled in the Appalachian Mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania. It was built on lumber, coal and steel manufacturing. But like many communities along America's Rust Belt, a lot of those jobs disappeared in the late 20th century. Globalization meant it was cheaper to import those goods rather than produce them. In Luzerne, the jobs that were left were often in local government, and the county's richest residents saw an opportunity. They took advantage of the declining local economy and started handing out bribes. Those in power mayors, school board officials, judges were willing to do whatever it took to keep their pockets lined. And Mark Civerella Jr. Was no exception. Mark was born on March 30, 1950, in the city of Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, the largest city in Luzerne County. Mark didn't grow up wealthy. His father worked at a local brewery and his mom was a telephone operator. By most reports, his family was stable and loving. That didn't stop Mark from acting out. He got suspended from school more than once for fighting with other students, and when he was 15, he got arrested for going on a joyride with his friends. Luckily for Mark, the officer let him off with a warning. But he still had to deal with his parents, who were livid and disappointed. After that, Mark promised to never break the law again. He became so committed to this vow that he pursued a career as an attorney. Mark went on to graduate from Wilkes Barre's King's College and the Duquesne University School of law. In 1975, when he was 25, he passed the bar in Pennsylvania and started his own private practice. But before long, Mark transitioned to a career in public Service. For almost 20 years, he served as a solicitor for the Wilkes Barre Zoning Board. He worked on deals with lawyers, politicians and business owners. Like Luzerne's number One commercial real estate developer, Rob Merrickle. But eventually, Mark wanted a more powerful position. In 1995, he ran to become a judge. In his campaign, Mark promised to be tough on crime and refused to accept any plea deals, nor no matter what. In his eyes, this was a deterrent. Being tough on crimes stopped people from committing them. That got more complicated when Mark was appointed a juvenile court judge in 1996. Or at least it should have. Mark didn't change his stance just because he was dealing with kids, and he certainly didn't give them the same leeway he was given as a teenager. Since he was the county's only juvenile court judge, he decided how it was run. Almost immediately, Mark instituted a new policy. If students were found guilty of violent acts on school property, they were automatically sentenced to a month in a juvenile facility, and their parents were the ones paying for it. Even if the charge was something as minor as pushing another student, they'd received the same punishment. Even with his zero tolerance policy, Mark was pretty fair. In his first two years running the juvenile court, he only sent kids into detention in 1.5% of cases. But that didn't mean Mark always followed the rules. A few months into his term, mark sentenced a 13 year old boy to detention without informing him of his right to an attorney. When the Philadelphia superior court found out, they reversed the ruling. But it was more like a slap on the wrist, because even then, Mark was allowed to keep running the courthouse his way. And he had big plans. After just a few years, Mark started advocating for the city to replace their aging juvenile detention center. He wanted to construct a more modern facility that could hold offenders for longer. Luckily for him, he had contacts in the real estate industry. His close friend and local developer, Rob Merrickle, had been greasing Mark's palm for years. He'd given Mark envelopes stuffed with thousands of dollars in travel certificates and cash. Mark wanted to do something to repay the favor. And getting Merrickle a big job building a county facility seemed like a good idea. But Mark knew it would be an uphill battle getting the county on board. He needed someone with sway, and he knew just the guy. Michael Conahan grew up about 25 miles from Mark in the town of Hazleton. He was one of nine siblings, and his family was pretty well off. Michael's father served three terms as the mayor of Hazleton. He made a lot of connections through the job, including to wealthy donors, state government, and the mafia. Working with the mob was pretty standard for public officials in Luzerne. County. But Michael didn't follow in his father's footsteps, at least not right away. Michael didn't get into too much trouble back then. He was a pretty good student and met his future wife in ninth grade. He went on to graduate from Villanova University and Temple University Law School where his grades were just so so. But that didn't slow down Michael's career. Just a few months after graduating in 1977, a Hazleton magistrate, a low level judge, resigned after his ties to the mafia were uncovered. Michael's dad made a few calls and the governor appointed Michael to take his place. He got the job at just 25 years old. Michael liked being a judge, even a low level one. When his term was up two years later, he decided to run again. To finance his campaign, he turned to some old family friends, the Mafia. One of Michael's biggest donors was a drug trafficker named Ronald Bellatier. They were so close that Michael became the godfather of Ronald's daughter. For a while, no one questioned Michael and Ronald's connection. But then in 1993, Michael ran for a 10 year term as a county common pleas judge. In his speeches, he promised not to let campaign finance donations affect his work. He won the election. But only eight months later, his donor Ronald was put on trial, which was a problem for Michael. His name had come up in a way that was wasn't flattering. And it only got worse when one of the witnesses testified that Michael had said not to buy cocaine from a dealer under investigation. Instead, Michael recommended buying the drugs from Ronald. Ronald was ultimately sentenced to four years, but somehow Michael escaped charges even after an investigation by the state's Judicial Conduct board. It didn't change Michael's behavior, though if anything, it embodied emboldened him. Michael continued to cozy up to the mob and he started to run the courthouse like a crime family too. He gave jobs to friends, cut deals with businessmen and got other judges involved in his schemes. Actually, that's how he and Mark Chiverella started working together. Mark and Michael did their best to convince county officials to approve a new detention facility. But no matter how they pitched it, the board wouldn't budge. That's when Mark decided to introduce his real estate developer friend Rob Merle to a wealthy local lawyer named Robert J. Powell. Supposedly, Powell was interested in getting into prison real estate. Merkel and Powell created a company, PA Child Care, and devised a plan for their facility. Then they sent a letter to the local government offering to build it for them and lease it for 30, 37 million dollars over 30 years. Local leaders weren't sure about the cost, but Michael Conahan helped them negotiate. The deal was struck and in July 2001, Pennsylvania Childcare settled on a location. And Merricle had good news for his friend Mark. Part of the facility's budget included a finder's fee of almost a million dollars total, and he thought Mark should get it. But the finder's fee was contingent on the project moving forward, and Merrickle and Powell needed more money to get started. Mark said he and Michael would get it done, especially with Michael's new position. On January 3, 2002, Michael Conahan went from magistrate to the president judge of Luzerne County. That meant he had oversight of the court's entire operations. And almost immediately, he started to abuse that power. First, Michael stopped funding the county's public youth detention facility. That left the for profit Pennsylvania Childcare and later the Western Penns Childcare as the only options for housing juvenile delinquents. Then he signed a secret contract with PA Child Care titled the placement guarantee agreement. It outlined that the county would pay PA Child Care $1.3 million a year in rent to house the. The money was rolling in and Mark received his finders fee and he shared it with his new best friend, Michael. Their lives on top were just getting started. The two judges moved next door to one another in an affluent suburb of Wilkes Barre called Mountaintop. The only thing they needed now was a steady stream of kids to throw into their brand new prison so they could keep collecting the cash. When the PA Child Care Detention Facility finally opened in January 2003, Mark Chiverella and Michael Conahan received the first installment of their million dollar finders fee. Robert Powell, the facility's owner, shuffled the money around before transferring it to the judges. He wanted to make sure the payments couldn't be traced back to him. The finder's fee helped the judges buy ma mansions that were next door to each other and right down the street from Powell. He would often go to their homes for barbecues. Pennsylvania Childcare had done its part. Now it was judge Mark Chiverella's turn to uphold his side of the bargain, which meant supplying the new facility with kids. First, he held a meeting with his court's probation officers and told them, quote, I want PA Child Care filled at all times. Mark wanted his message to be clear at the county's schools too. He would show up at assemblies and threaten the students, saying, you never want to come in front of me. You should be frightened of me. He Also expanded his zero tolerance policy to include any kids who skipped class. Yes, you heard that right. He made it illegal to play hooky and soon enough there were plenty of children coming into his courtroom. But it didn't matter what charge brought them there. Mark sent them all to the same place. In the summer of 2003, Edward Ken Zachoski was just about to start his senior year at Luzerns County Coughlin High School. He was a good student and a star wrestler who'd almost qualified for the state championships the year before. Edward was excited to take another shot at glory in his last year of high school, but his parents worried his focus was elsewhere. He'd been caught drinking with some new friends more than once. His parents wanted to scare him straight. So Edward's dad placed drug paraphernalia in Edward's truck and called the police. They thought Judge Ciavarello was only going to give him a warning, so they didn't hire an attorney. To their surprise, Mark sent Edward to PA Child care. With an additional four months at a military style boot camp, Edward ended up missing his entire senior year, including his last wrestling season. He tried to get his life back on track and earn his degree, but when he was 19, he got into a fight at a party. Since Pennsylvania juvenile courts have jurisdiction until the age of 21, Edward ended up in Mark's courtroom again. Mark sent him away to PA Child care for another four months. Eventually, Edward got work in construction, but he never recovered from the sentences mark gave him. Six years later, when Edward was 23, he died by suicide. Years later, his mother Sandy would confront Mark Chiverella about it on the courthouse steps. But Edward was far from the only one who suffered because of Judge Chiverella. The next year, a 14 year old girl named Angelia was caught writing vote for Michael Jackson on some stop signs in her town. It was actually a trend. 81 stop signs had been vandalized in the weeks prior. Although Angelia was a straight A student, the police decided to make an example of her. She was charged with 86 counts of vandalism even though she had only written on five signs total. Angelia was brought before Mark, who found her guilty. She was sent to PA Child care in handcuffs despite her mother's protests. Court officials hadn't brought her epilepsy medication. Angelia's seizures were brought on by stress and PA Child care was nothing if not stressful. According to the juvenile law center, the facility was, quote, marked by rampant abuse and maltreatment of children in their care. The conditions There were harsh just a bed and a stool in a lonely concrete room. The girls were forced to scrub the bathroom floors as punishment. On her second night there alone in her cell, Angelia had a grand mal seizure and accidentally banged her head against the concrete wall. Mark reluctantly put Angelia under house arrest instead, but he kept her from going back to school for three months. Eventually, she was able to make up for the time she lost and graduate from high school. Eight years after her run in with Judge Chiverella, Angelia graduated from college. But her experience at PA child care continues to haunt her even today. None of that bothered Mark. Angelia and Edward were just two victims out of about 6,500 that Mark sentenced to PA Child Care and Western PA Child Care. Kids as young as 10 years old were sent away for shoplifting $4 worth of nutmeg, slapping a friend at school, or even failing to show up to court as a witness in another case. The charges weren't fair, nor was anything else about Judge Ciavarella's courtroom proceedings. Although the Pennsylvania Superior Court had ruled against him for sentencing a child without informing them of their right to an attorney, he routinely ignored that policy. Half of the children who came before him appeared without a lawyer present. In 1999, when he started developing the Kids for Cash scheme, he was sending students to detention centers at a rate of 13.7%. By 2004, it had doubled to 26%. That means Mark sent away over a quarter of the children he saw. But Mark didn't care how many lives he ruined. The more kids he sent to the PA child care detention facilities, the more money he and Michael Conahan made. And they were never satisfied. Over the years, their kickbacks ballooned to at least $2.6 million. None of which, by the way, was reported to the irs. This scheme worked for years, but one of them was bound to slip up. Throughout his career, Michael maintained close ties with the Mafia. He regularly ate breakfast with William Big Billy Delia, a crime boss who managed outfits all over Pennsylvania and New York. Anytime one of Big Billy's friends showed up in the courthouse, Michael Michael would help get the charges dropped. Mark apparently cautioned his friend against being so open about his connections. But Michael refused to change. He's been a friend, Michael said. I see no reason why I should stop. There was a reason, though. In 2006, the FBI finally took notice of his activities, and they moved toward an indictment. But there was one detail they still weren't aware of his connection to PA child care. Michael and Mark had Covered their tracks well. It took a perfect storm of judges, investigators and court victims for the truth to come to light. And when it did, the world would finally learn. Michael Conahan and Mark Civerella were monsters. As president judge of Luzerne County, 54 year old Michael Conahan controlled how the courts operated. He cut deals with the mob and local business owners and facilitated corruption among other judges too. He thought he was invincible. But it was just a matter of time until his empire crumbled. In late 2004, Michael signed a new long term deal with PA Child Care. Luzerne county would increase its rent to $58 million over 20 years. That same year, Thomas P. Krovcheck was working as a certified fraud examiner for the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare. When he heard about the renewal lease, he immediately knew something was wrong. Thomas started auditing Luzerne County's finances to find out why they were paying a detention facility so much. But PA Child Care and Michael's office did everything they could to slow down the process, including leaking audit findings to the press. In retaliation for the audit, Pennsylvania Childcare sued Thomas Krofcheck, his boss, the newspaper and the state for releasing trade secrets. Per their request, Michael had all the documents related to the audit sealed. The public wouldn't hear the truth that luzerne was overpaying PA child care at a rate of 42% for another two years. In the meantime, Thomas had a mountain of problems. In addition to PA Child Care's lawsuit, the state threatened to fire him for incompetence at Michael Conahan's behest. But Thomas knew he had done the right thing. He sent the audit records to the FBI just in case. But he wasn't the only one who tipped them off. Charles Murowski became a Luzerne County Judge in 1982 after a old year 414 year career as a prosecutor. But Charles wasn't a tough on crime judge like Michael Conahan or Mark Chiverella. He believed rehabilitating people was more effective than locking them up, especially children. Early on in his career, Charles became a family court judge handling cases of abuse, divorce and delinquency. Since they both dealt with children, Charles was forced to share government funding with Mark. That's how he first realized something was fishy about Mark's tactics. When Charles tried to secure funding for drug treatment programs, he was repeatedly denied because Mark was spending their money on the placements at PA Child Care instead. This meant that many of the kids who came through Charles court Were forced into foster care while their parents awaited treatment. In 2005, Charles brought up these issues to county commissioners, and they didn't do anything. But Michael Conahan did. He demoted Charles Murowski, Removing him from the family court he'd been in charge of for 25 years. That's when Charles started to realize maybe Michael was working with Mark. It made sense. Michael Conahan and Mark chiavarella weren't shy about their wealthy lifestyle, and they were incredibly close with Robert Powell, the owner of PA childcare. Powell continued his private practice as an attorney, and almost anytime his clients showed up in court, the judges would rule in their favor. Charles had a feeling that Michael and Mark were getting money from PA Child care. And Charles suspicions were confirmed when he heard about Michael and Mark's shared condo in Florida's Palm beach county. Not only was the apartment located just outside the marina where Robert Powell stored his yacht, but it had cost them $785,000 total. There was no way they could have afforded that kind of place on a judge's salary at that point. Charles went to the FBI with his findings. Normally, he was supposed to go to the Pennsylvania judicial conduct board, but he knew they couldn't be trusted. When complaints about Michael came into the judicial conduct board, they stalled at every opportunity. But when a complaint was filed about a different Luzerne judge, Ann Locuda, they had no problem getting the investigation up and running. In 2006, Anne was brought in front of the judicial conduct board on accusations that she was abusive to courthouse staff, Berating them and ordering them to run personal errands for her, and disputed the charges and claimed there was a conspiracy against her. One coordinated by Michael Conahan. There was truth to her allegations. Anne had been the one to file the complaints against Michael to the judicial conduct board. At the time, the board claimed they didn't have the resources to investigate Michael, but they ended up spending $50,000 going after Anne. In November 2008, the board ruled against Anne and removed her from the bench. But there was a silver lining. Someone from the FBI called Anne. They asked what she knew about Michael Conahan. The walls were starting to close in on Michael and Mark. But the final piece of the puzzle was a girl named Hillary transu. When she was just 14, she got in trouble for making fun of her assistant principal on MySpace. At the bottom of the page, she wrote, when you find this, I hope you have a sense of humor. The assistant principal did not. Hillary was arrested and charged with harassment within 60 seconds of Hillary. Appearing in his courtroom, Mark Ciarella made sentenced her to three months at PA Child Care. Hillary's family contacted the nonprofit Juvenile Law center, the first public interest law firm for children. The JLC looked into Hillary's case and was shocked by the poor procedure in Mark's courtroom. So they decided to pay him a visit. At this point, Michael Conahan had retired and Mark had taken his place as president judge of the county. The day that JLC came to observe him, he was kind, courteous and fair. But when the JLC representatives asked a defense attorney if things were always like this, he said no, the judge is acting very differently today. The JLC started looking deeper. They heard from so many students who'd been sentenced in minutes without attorneys and sent away to PA Child Care. And in April of 2008, they decided to act. The organization filed a suit against Judge Mark Civerella, asking the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to take jurisdiction of his court. And they weren't alone in their fight. The state Attorney General's office and the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare joined in on the suit. Instead of facing a drawn out fight, Mark resigned from his duties on the Juvenile court, though he stayed on as a judge. But his problems weren't going to disappear that quickly. The feds were on his trail. In early 2008, a federal grand jury subpoenaed Robert Merrickle, the man who'd built PA Child Care, and its owner, Robert Powell. Federal investigators had questions about the more than $2 million paid in finder's fees to Mark and Michael. The judges panicked. Even though the payments were highly immoral, they would have technically been legal if Powell and Miracle hadn't hidden them when they transferred the money to the judges. Instead, when Miracle testified, he lied and told them he'd only paid the money to Powell. Michael and Mark knew Miracle's lies made the situation worse. So they coached Powell on what to say when he was called to test testify. Unbeknownst to them, Powell was wearing a wire. He was cooperating with the feds. The agents listening in a van outside had almost everything they needed. Soon enough, their investigation would be complete. On the morning of January 26, 2009, Charles Moroski, the judge who ran Luzerne's family court, announced that he was taking over as president judge of Luzerne County. Two hours later, U.S. attorney Martin C. Carlson announced Mark Conahan and Michael Chiverella had been charged with honest services fraud, wire fraud and tax evasion. The judges appeared in court two weeks later and pleaded guilty to Their charges. The proposed plea deal would see the judges accept responsibility for their crimes, pay fines and restitution, and serve up to seven years in prison. But many parents of the children who'd suffered felt seven years wasn't enough. As it turned out, the judge in the case felt the same way. When Mark first ran for the bench, he promised he would reject any plea deals. Ironically, after his own crimes, his plea deal was rejected, too. Their cases were going to trial. To make matters worse, a federal grand jury jury added charges of racketeering, fraud, money laundering, extortion, bribery, and federal tax violations. Mark and Michael pleaded not guilty to everything. They could only hope that their trials would be more fair than the ones Mark gave to the kids in his courtroom all these years. Michael ended up renegotiating his plea deal, pleading guilty to one count of racketeering conspiracy. He was sentenced to 17 and a half years in prison. Mark, on the other hand, decided to fight his charges. Ultimately, he was convicted on 12 of them, but the jury acquitted him of 27 other charges. In the end, Mark was sentenced to 28 years in federal prison. Meanwhile, Robert Powell, who cooperated with the investigation, was sentenced to 18 months. Rob Maracle also ended up cooperating and only got one year year in prison. I'd love to get your thoughts. What do you think about the kids for cash conspiracy? Was anyone else in on it? And do you think the judges deserved their sentences? Maybe more. Tell us in the comments. Michael Conahan was allowed to move back home in 2020 because of COVID concerns. And though he was due to be released in 2026, President Joe Biden commuted the last two years of his sentence in late 2024. This drew a lot of criticism from the families of the victims, as well as the governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro. He said, quote, I do feel strongly that President Biden got it absolutely wrong and created a lot of pain here in northeastern Pennsylvania. While Michael is now a free man, Mark Civerella remains an Ashland Federal Correctional Institution, a low security prison in Kentucky. He continues to appeal his sentence. He's set to be released in 2034, when he will be 84 years old. Mark himself was given multiple second chances as a teenager, but denied that same courtesy to thousands of kids. Thankfully, the victims of the kids for cash scheme received thousands of dollars in settlements, and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ordered the records of 2,400 victims to be expunged. But for many kids, especially those like Edward Kenzykowski, who are no longer with us, the damage couldn't be repaired. And unfortunately the juvenile detention industry is still running strong. There are still judges out there like Michael Conahan and Mark Chivers, people who put profit over the well being of their citizens. But it doesn't have to be that way. If you want to help, you can research the judges in your area, what are their policies, what are their priorities, and most importantly, where are they getting their money. Thanks so much for listening. I'm Vanessa Richardson and this is Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes. Come back next time. We'll decode the episode together and hear another story about the real people at the center of the world's most notorious cults, conspiracies and criminal acts. Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes is a Crime House original powered by Pave Studios. Here at Crime House, we want to thank each and every one of you for your support. If you like what you heard today, reach out on social media, Rimehouse on TikTok and Instagram. Don't forget to rate, review and follow Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes Wherever you get your podcasts, your feedback truly makes a difference. And to enhance your Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes listening experience, subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. You'll get every episode ad free. We'll be back on Friday. Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes is hosted by me, Vanessa Richardson, and is a Crime House original powered by Pave Studios. This episode was brought to life by the Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes team. Max Cutler, Ron Shapiro, Alex Benedon, Natalie Pertzofsky, Lori Marinelli, Sarah K. Camp, Jake Natureman, Leah Roche and Carrie Murphy. Thank you for listening.