Conahan, wife connected to former drug dealer

This is a reference article about Judge Michael T.Conahan a repost from the Times Leader.

Times Leader
BY DAVE JANOSKI
PROJECTS EDITOR
Published: Wednesday, July 16, 2008 1:49 PM EDT

Fourteen years ago, Luzerne County Judge Michael T. Conahan said allegations that he helped connect a Florida cocaine dealer with a Hazleton buyer were “bogus” stories told by “common criminals” hoping to curry favor with federal prosecutors.

Four years ago, the convicted cocaine dealer and Conahan’s wife, Barbara, formed a Pompano Beach used-car business, according to an official with the company who said Monday that he met with Conahan, Conahan’s wife and the former dealer in Florida to discuss setting up the business in 2004.

Barbara Conahan was president of the used-car business, RAB Auto Sales Inc., according to Florida corporate documents. The former drug dealer, Ronald Belletiere, operated RAB, according to the company’s former secretary/treasurer. Florida documents indicate the company has been inactive since September 2007.

Michael Conahan, whose financial dealings are being examined by federal agents conducting a probe of the county court, and his wife did not return phone messages seeking comment Tuesday.

Conahan’s name surfaced during Belletiere’s 1991 federal trial in the “Empire” drug case involving cocaine trafficking in Hazleton in the 1980s, when Conahan was a magisterial district judge in the city.

Government witness Neal DeAngelo testified Conahan called him in 1986 and said he had heard DeAngelo’s brother, Paul, had been buying cocaine from a dealer who was under investigation. Conahan offered to put the DeAngelos in contact with a Florida dealer, Neal DeAngelo testified.

Belletiere, who is a former Hazleton resident, subsequently called Neal DeAngelo at Conahan’s request, according to testimony, and the DeAngelo brothers and another man traveled to Miami to buy $26,500 worth of cocaine from Belletiere.

Conahan was on the prosecution’s list of witnesses for the Belletiere trial but was not called to testify. The federal prosecutor in the case, during a “sidebar” conversation with the judge out of the jury’s earshot, called Conahan an “unindicted co-conspirator” in the case, according to a transcript.

The two DeAngelo brothers and Belletiere later gave information about an unnamed “public official” to the state Judicial Conduct Board, attorneys in the case said in 1994, just months after Conahan’s election to the Luzerne County bench.

In August 1994, Conahan held a press conference to deny he had referred Belletiere to the DeAngelos, but he acknowledged knowing all three men, having represented their families in legal matters.

In a 2003 interview, Conahan said he was exonerated by the Judicial Conduct Board, which has never commented publicly on the case. The board’s chief counsel, Joseph Massa Jr., said the board does not comment on investigations that do not lead to public charges.

Paul DeAngelo and Belletiere received reduced prison sentences in the “Empire” case upon the recommendation of federal prosecutors. Both were released in 1995. Neal DeAngelo was never charged.

The DeAngelo brothers, who operate DBi Services, which provides commercial services, including vegetation and road management, to government and business clients nationwide from its headquarters in Hazleton, did not respond to an interview request Tuesday.

Belletiere, 53, who lives in south Florida, did not respond to an interview request made through his daughter, Briana. Briana Belletiere acknowledged her father had operated RAB Auto Sales Inc., but said she believed the company is no longer active. The company’s phone number is no longer in service.

Former RAB secretary/treasurer Charles Rebhan said in a phone interview Monday that Belletiere approached him in 2004 to help set up a business that would buy used cars at auctions for resale.

Rebhan, who spent more than four decades in car sales, had previously worked with Belletiere at a Florida dealership. In spring or summer 2004, Belletiere set up a lunch meeting with Conahan, Conahan’s wife and Rebhan in Florida, where they discussed how the business would be set up and operated, Rebhan said. He said it was the only time he met the Conahans.

Rebhan said he developed heart trouble in 2005 and was never able to return to work, although the company continued to pay him until he retired in 2006.

Rebhan said he didn’t know if Belletiere had a financial stake in the company. Belletiere’s name does not appear on any of the public documents filed by RAB Auto Sales.

Conahan listed RAB Auto Sales on his annual financial disclosure forms filed with the state Supreme Court for 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007. The forms indicated his wife either earned income from the company, was an officer of the company or had a financial interest in it.

Conahan, who was president judge from 2002 through 2006, announced his retirement last year at age 56 although he had six years left on his second 10-year term. He is now a senior judge primarily overseeing the county’s Drug Treatment Court.

djanoski@citizensvoice.com,