Mark Ciavarella "Kids for Cash" Judge a convicted Felon

A long time in coming too, alas the wheels of Justice in this corrupt latter day Roman Republic we call the Untied States Of America move slowly if at all, lumbering,squeaking and rattling like an oil deprived engine ready to seize. On Friday a small measure of Justice belched forth from the corrupt kleptocracy that is Eastern Pennsylvania.

Mark Ciavarella the former President Judge of the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania who conspired, along with fellow dishonorable judge Michael Conahan, in the infamous "Kids for Cash" scandal in 2008 was found guilty of racketeering. Ciavarella was found guilty of 11 other counts including the conviction under the RICO Act and tax evasion.

The charges stemmed from Ciavarella accepting illegal payments from Robert Mericle, the real estate developer of Pennsylvania Child Care, and attorney Robert Powell, a co-owner of the facility. Ciavarella was also on trial for 38 other counts including accepting numerous payments from Mericle and Powell as well as tax evasion.

After the guilty verdicts he walked out of the courtroom a free man under the custody of his daughter, pending sentencing to a term of as little as 13 years or 157 give or take a few!

Once outside the disgraced judge was loudly confronted by a mother Sandy Fonzo, whose son, Edward Kenzakoski, killed himself last year after this criminal judge's decision to put him away for a minor drug offense sent the boy's life spiraling out of control.

"My kid's not here anymore. He's dead! Because of him!" Fonzo shouted at the judge and his lawyer as they talked to reporters on the courthouse steps.

"He ruined my fucking life! I'd like him to go to hell and rot there forever!" she shouted.

As guards attempted to restrain her, Fonzo reached out and touched the ex-judge on the arm, shouting, "Do you remember me?"

"Do you remember my son? An all-star wrestler? He's gone, he shot himself in the heart, you scumbag!"

The disgraced judge turned and walked away with Fonzo's screams of anguish filling his ears. We can only hope this is something the Judge replays in his mind the rest of his haunted days!

Fonzo's son was 17 and expecting to receive a college wrestling scholarship when he was busted for possession of drug paraphernalia and landed in the ex-judge's court.

Ciavarella, who was known as "Mr. Zero Tolerence," sentenced him to fours months in book camp and 30 days at the youth jail for the offense, which was his first.

As a result of the bust, the boy didn't get the scholarship he expected and fell into a life of crime and depression, his mom said.

He developed anger issues and was convicted of aggravated assault as an adult, Wilkes-Barre's Times Leader reported.

He shot himself last June, at the age of 23.


Edward Kenzakoski was just one of thousands of young juveniles in Eastern Pennsylvania whose constitutional rights were trampled into the dust by the two criminal ex-judges! The worst judicial scandal since World War Two will result in millions of dollars in damages and has destroyed the faith in the rule of law and order of millions of Pennsylvanians.

Sandy Fonzo one mother, one woman whose only son was robbed from her is just one voice rising in condemnation at the personal destruction that is wrought when men of the Judiciary descend into common criminal depravity aided and abetted by a corrupt political establishment.

Another Chapter closes..

Mark Ciavarella was represented in his criminal case by long time Luzerne County Lawyer Al Flora who is most notorious for representing Gay Pornographer Bryan Kocis (Cobra Video) who was murdered on Jan 24th 2007 by two rival gay pornographers.

Bryan Kocis had been embroiled in a high profile scandal involving underage child pornography which resulted in his pleading guilty to such a charge in 2001, then in 2004 hiring another underage teenager to appear in his bareback gay videos.

The Corrigan/Kocis-Cobra public scandal played out against a backdrop of insinuations and suspicion that Mr.Kocis had bought his freedom from the corrupt Judge Michael Conahan in 2001 despite pleading guilty to sex and filming pornography with a 15 year old. A charge that should have entailed prison and registration as a life time sex offender!

Bryan Kocis readily used his 2001 exoneration of guilt and lack of legal consequences to bludgeon and terrify other young men into line, telling them he had Luzerne County's corrupt judiciary in his pocket.

I will also reiterate in February 2007 the only explicit death threat I received came from Luzerne County after I posted an early article accusing Judge Michael Conahan of official corruption and bribery in the 2001 case.

As for Mr.Flora representing Judge Conahan? Well certainly seems to validate that pompous assertion of "Judges in my pocket" by Bryan Kocis! Now that one Judge is a public Felon of record and another soon to face his day of Judgment, DeWayne can enjoy this delicious irony filled souffle!

And kudos to Mr.Flora using that law degree to make his mother proud defending the truly despicable cretins of society! Child Pornographers and Mafia Judges!

The full story of the Kids For Cash scandal and the longtime Judicial Corruption in Luzerne County one of the most crooked county's in the US is covered in detail with Links below.

'Rot in hell!' Heartbroken mom whose son committed suicide confronts crooked judge

Kids for cash scandal

"Despite Red Flags, Judges Ran Kickback Scheme for Years" (NY Times)

Cash for kids' judge took $1m kickback from private jail builder to lock children up (UK MAIL Online)

"I will never, ever forgive him, he took everything I had, he has no remorse, there is no justice!" Sandy Fonzo,

St Bryan Of Luzerne County

A couple of weeks ago the trial of Harlow Cuadra ended with a guilty verdict in the murder of Bryan Kocis. It marked an end to a horrific time where man’s most base instincts came to light.

A brutal vicious murder that brought untold grief and horror to many people. There is no way to measure the loss of Bryan to those who loved him, those who knew him and cared about him. I understand that.

During the trial, and afterward a picture was painted of Bryan Kocis that could be summed up in the words of his sister on a blog after the verdict.

“Bryan was a good, honest person in a bad, dishonest business.”

The trial is over, the murderers have been brought to justice, it is time to clear the table here.

I spent 15 years of my life in this “business”. In that 15 years I worked with and knew many honorable and decent people. In those 15 years I never encountered a more reprehensible vile person that Bryan Kocis. I have been trying for days to decide what to write, so I have gone through countless emails, court documents, and my own anecdotal knowledge and came to some conclusions that I would like to share.

Lets start at the beginning. my friend Jerry Douglas would tell you there are two types of people who make porn, those that are in it for the work, and those that are in it for the boys.

It is obvious which one of those Bryan Kocis was.

In 2001 Bryan Kocis was arrested for videotaping himself having sex with a 15 year old boy. To hear his apologists tell it was a model that lied about his age. Let’s look at that for a moment. There was no Cobra Video at the time of the incident, that came later. Does anyone remember a series of video’s with the then 38 year old Bryan Kocis and young men ever going on the market?

Lets get real here.

Bryan was using the guise of making video’s to lure in young men. Somehow he managed to plead down and walk away and start a video company. Now that we see the judges in that county pleading guilty to various crimes, and one can see the atmosphere in that county then was not a good one for justice. Somehow Bryan Kocis walked away from a molestation charge and started a company shooting young men.

Bryan Kocis was a pariah in the porn business.

He relished that position and embraced it. He brought a 17 year old Brent Corrigan to Pennsylvania for the summer by assuring his mother, on an art school related pretext. So much for an honest man in a dis-honest business. In my 15 years again I never saw anything like that. A man fresh from a molestation situation has a 17 year old boy in his home all summer long.

Now it is possible that the reason he had Brent there was for bible studies, but more than likely it was not. We have here a pattern of an older man with the money and power using it for sexual purposes. You hear over and over again about the conniving Brent using Bryan.

No, sorry the 17 year old was the abused one here. Not the 40 year old with the money, the house, the transportation and the control. This is not a situation that is either normal, or acceptable in porn. It was in a word wrong.

My next point is one that infuriates me beyond words.

The issue of Brent Corrigan using a fake ID to make video’s, Brent the evil manipulator..Horseshit. It really does not matter a lick what Brent Corrigan did here, or his motivation for doing it. One of the first things I learned in porn was the younger looking the model the more ID you needed. No reputable person would EVER shoot anyone on the basis of an emailed picture of an ID. EVER.

If I had a model that looked questionable I would require 3 pieces of ID and ask for friends and references. That was the standard. My battles with Caryn Goldberg at Freshman magazine were legendary regarding models they thought looked under 18. They might have all the ID in the world and they would not shoot them.

My distributor demanded more than one ID, as did everyone else. Those of us that shot in the 18-23 YO age group were especially careful. We always went the extra mile.

The Jeff Browning episode was a strong reminder of the perils. If Brent Corrigan came to me with an emailed picture of an ID he would not have been shot. He would have been required to provide at least 3 pieces in hand for inspection and then some. This happened because Bryan did not care about what the others in the industry considered necessary. That was the failure here. The responsibility was in the producers hands.

Next point was the unprecedented way Bryan went after a 17 yo when Brent finally had enough and fled the abusive situation he was in. Make no mistake the mixture of sex and money and control was abuse in it’s purest form. At some point Brent realized that for his own survival he needed to flee this abusive controlling prick.

He was strong enough to get away and he drove away in the car Bryan gave him. Most people are not that strong, and they die in the abuse. Psychologically they die. They give in, they learn to “Take It Like A Bitch Boy”.

When Bryan did not get his way he was relentless and evil.

No one in porn ever acted like that. He sent people across the country to humiliate and try to destroy Brent.(photo at left) He both publicly and privately went after Brent in ways that were frankly abusive and repulsive. This is where we, the porn business, really let Brent down.

We stood silently by while this bully bullied. Falcon let him down. They promised to stand by him and they caved. If Chuck Holmes were alive he would have squished Kocis like a bug. They wanted to use him then abandoned him.

Eventually Brent had to work, had to eat and with no end in sight he and Grant decided to settle. They were alone, no one stood by them. I to this day regret I did not do so. I was at the time mired in my own hell that was devouring everything around me and I did not take the time.

I justified it in my own head by saying these are bareback people let them do themselves in. I was wrong. An abused person escaped from an abuser and we stood silent. They went to settle even when the “Honest man in a dishonest business” was double dealing them with their business partner. Despicable behavior from a despicable man. This honest man who started a bareback trend on lies for profit.

Bryan was murdered. There is no justification for that.

Jeffery Dahmer, and John Geoghan were murdered. It did not make them nice people. Like a bad episode of Perry Mason the first conclusion everyone thought of was it had to be Brent and Grant.

The speculation was relentless and the same people who supported Bryan during his life continued the abuse from the grave. What Brent and Grant did next was not to run and hide from it, but rather to do what needed to be done to bring murderers to justice.

It took courage to go to meet with people who you knew were cold blooded killers and could snap your neck and kill you long before the police watching could stop them. They did it, and they helped put murderers away. Yet in some places the abuse by Bryan Kocis continues. This image (sanitized) of Bryan Kocis, is part of that abuse.

I never in my 15 years touched a model. I am not saying that does not happen but those whose primary purpose is sex with the boys are a minority. It is sexual harassment and abuse.

Bryan Kocis talked with underage boys online all the time. I know of several. They could not have been the only ones. His business was getting into their pants as much as it was shooting them in porn. He was a predator and an abuser. His death did not change that or mitigate that.

More often than not I would talk a young man out of doing porn if I thought it was not something they should do. Many of us were like that. If your goal is to bed them, you come from a different place. He was not concerned with their welfare, he was concerned with their ass.

He was not an “Honest man in a dishonest business”

There are two points I would like to make. Had Bryan Kocis done what he should have when Brent was 17 there would have been no Brent Corrigan. Plain and simple. Does anyone think the moment he found out Brent was underage, he notified everyone and pulled the video’s back?

In the porn world I was in, Brent would have never been shot.

The second point is if Bryan had said to Brent Go for it. If you think there is a better world out there good luck. One learns in life there is no percentage in holding anyone back. Brent would have progressed or not, Bryan would have prospered as well. Instead he went on a rampage of evil bile that devoured everything around it. There would have been no contractual obligation to end. Bryan would still be alive.

Enough of St. Bryan of Luzerne County.

This man was evil. His legacy of Barebacking Twinks stands as a homage to the debased mind of a predator. We as an industry should protect the youngest in it. We should have stropped Bryan by speaking out. I will forever regret that I did not. What I will not do again is stand by and allow his abuse to be carried out from the grave.

Brent Corrigan was abused and was a hero in the end. He has more courage and class in his pinky than that abuser had in his entire being, and he should be admired for standing up and helping put Joe and Harlow away, and thanked for placing his life on the line to snare the murderers.

As for those that want to continue the abuse,

Shame on You!

Kevin Clarke

Kevin Clarke is the GayVn Award winning director of The American Way,American Way 2-Lust,The Heartland,A Young Man's World,Ashton Ryans B-Boys,The Seduction of a Surfer and The American City.

Kevin Clarke spent 15 years in the Gay Porn buisness directing some of the top selling Gay Adult DVD's and he has a unique perspective on Bryan Kocis.

Photo at left Kevin Clarke,Jerry Douglas,George DuRoy

Mafia Judges

Disgraced Judges Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella were Mafia Judges, associates of and serving mobster William “Big Billy” D’Elia head of the New York Bufalino crime family!

This is the explosive and dare I say not unexpected charge in today's Scranton Times.

A witness will testify before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that Ciavareela and Conahan conspired with disgraced Court Commissioner Ray Sharkey to "legally rub out" The Scranton Times, no doubt due to that newspapers reporting on "mob influence"!

Judge Conahan and Ciavarella have already been exposed selling children to private jails with Mob ties.

So my question when will the Child trafficking charges be leveled?

What about Child Prostitution and Underage video?

Why was Bryan Kocis not only tolerated but protected in Luzerne County?
Exactly who made the payments to Judge Conahan in 2002 allowing Bryan Kocis to have rape,child pornagraphy and child molestation charges reduced to a simple plea of "Corruption of a Minor" with no prison time,no sex offender status.

Despite VIDEO PROOF of the Rape and Sexual Abuse of the then 15 year old boy!

In January 2002 Bryan Kocis while he was under legal threat, facing YEARS in Prison signed an EXCLUSIVE distribution deal with suspected Mafioso Motti Green owner of Pacific Sun. His company controlled retail distribution of Cobra Video DVD's until Bryan Kocis death in January 2007. Green was also a neighbor of Kocis in the Back Mountain area.

The Russian and NYC "Italian" mafia have been fighting for control of sexual trafficking of minors and Pornography. Indeed many of the Gay Bars,Nightclubs and Video stores in NYC are mob owned or controlled. Bryan Kocis and Robert Wagner were frequently seen at Detention Thursdays at the old classic Stonewall Bar. Mob owned and controlled. Detention was the place underage males could be noticed and "picked up".

Young Men that is what Bryan Kocis needed and found at Detention Thursdays. He could also supply his Cobra Boy models to reward "his friends" on trips to New York City.

Dallas Township, Luzerne County Pennsylvania where Bryan Kocis operated a Child Pornography for 6 years! Guaranteed legal immunity by crooked Mob Judges!

I made this charge in 2006.

Vindication is sweet and more to come, stay tuned doubters.

You haven seen anything yet!

Suit says witness will tie mobster D'Elia to courthouse corruption

A witness will testify that one or both of the disgraced judges, Michael Conahan, top left, and Mark Ciavarella, top right, have 'direct connections' to jailed mobster William D’Elia, bottom left, according to a petition to be filed today in the state Supreme Court.

By Dave Janoski
STAFF WRITER

Published: Thursday, February 19, 2009
Updated: Thursday, February 19, 2009 5:49 PM EST

A witness will testify that one or both of the disgraced Luzerne County judges who’ve pleaded guilty to accepting millions in kickbacks have “direct connections” to jailed mobster William “Big Billy” D’Elia, according to a petition to be filed today in the state Supreme Court by lawyers for the owners of The Citizens’ Voice.

The petition asks the court to vacate a $3.5 million defamation verdict issued by suspended Judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. in June 2006 against The Scranton Times L.P., a related company called The Times Partners and former Citizens’ Voice reporter Edward Lewis .

Following a non-jury trial, Ciavarella ruled in favor of West Pittston businessman Thomas A. Joseph, who claimed he was defamed in a series of newspaper stories in 2001 following federal raids at Joseph’s business and homes owned by Joseph, D’Elia and others.

In its petition, Scranton Times L.P. alleges that then-President Judge Michael T. Conahan and his first cousin, Court Administrator William T. Sharkey Sr. “steered” the case into Ciavarella’s courtroom, ignoring the usual practice in which cases were assigned on a rotating basis. Ciavarella issued one-sided rulings and ignored evidence that Joseph and D’Elia were close associates who were suspected of money laundering, the petition says.

D’Elia was arrested on money laundering charges in May 2006, a month before the trial. Joseph was never charged.

In his opinion, Ciavarella wrote “there was no credible evidence presented at trial linking the two men beyond being social acquaintances.”

In the past week, Conahan and Ciavarella have pleaded guilty to accepting $2.6 million in kickbacks from a juvenile detention owner and contractor and Sharkey has pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $70,000 from the county.

“The unusual handling of judicial assignments in Joseph v. Scranton Times, the scope and subject of newspaper articles in question, and a cascade of recent revelations regarding corruption in the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas strongly suggest the $3.5 million non-jury verdict was rigged …” the petition says.

“Petitioners have identified a potential witness who, on reliable information and to Petitioners’ belief, would testify concerning direct connections between D’Elia and Judge Conahan and/or Judge Ciavarella.”

The petition asks the court to allow Scranton Times L.P. to gather evidence that it believes will reveal additional evidence of ties between D’Elia and one or both of the judges.

Kevin C. Abbott, an attorney for Scranton Times L.P., declined comment on the petition or the identity of the unnamed witness.

“We’re going to let it speak for itself,” he said.

Joseph and his attorneys did not immediately return phone messages. Conahan, Ciavarella and Sharkey could not be reached for comment.

Ciavarella’ attorney, Albert Flora Jr., said he hadn’t seen the petition and could not comment. Conahan’s attorney, Philip Gelso, and Sharkey’s attorney, Bruce Miller, did not immediately return phone messages.

D’Elia’s attorney, James Swetz, did not immediately return a phone message.

D’Elia, 62, the longtime reputed head of the Bufalino crime family is serving nine years in federal prison for money laundering and witness tampering.

Scranton Times L.P.’s petition argues that Ciavarella ignored evidence in federal search warrant affidavits presented during the trial that stated D’Elia and Joseph were “involved in and/or have knowledge of various federal criminal violations.”

The affidavits quoted confidential sources who alleged Joseph and D’Elia were involved in money laundering.

The petition also argues that Sharkey and Conahan worked together to ensure the pre-trial hearings and the actual trial would be assigned to Ciavarella even though Ciavarella and Conahan had assured Scranton Times L.P. that the selection of a trial judge would be made at random by the Court Administrator’s Office.

The petition cited a record recently obtained from the Court Administrator’s Office that notes the case was assigned by WTS, which are Sharkey’s initials, at the direction of MTC, which are Conahan’s.

Conahan refused a request from Scranton Times L.P. to have a judge from another county hear the case.

Scranton Times L.P. unsuccessfully appealed the Ciavarella’s verdict in state Superior Court, which upheld the verdict in September.

The petition to be filed today cites numerous aspects of the corruption investigation that led to charges against Conahan, Ciavarella and Sharkey including:

• A statement from attorneys for Robert J. Powell, a Butler Township attorney whose company allegedly paid some of the kickbacks to the two judges, that claimed Conahan and Ciavarella had extorted payments from him because he was “particularly vulnerable to the pressures that these Judges could bring to bear on him and his clients.”
• A review of the system for appointing neutral arbitrators in certain insurance cases in Luzerne County Court ordered by President Judge Chester B. Muroski in reaction to media reports of rumors of case-fixing and the possible manipulation of that process by Conahan and Ciavarella.
• A column in the legal journal The Legal Intelligencer citing rumors that “the investigation of the judges was the result of William D’Elia talking.”

D’Elia has been in federal custody since October 2006. In July 2007, he appeared before a Dauphin County grand jury that later recommended perjury charges against Dunmore landfill magnate Louis A. DeNaples. DeNaples is accused of hiding his ties to D’Elia and other crime figures when seeking a state casino license.

Joseph appeared before the same grand jury in August 2007.

Federal prosecutors say D’Elia aided the Dauphin County case against DeNaples and he could win a reduced sentence for continued cooperation. The perjury case against DeNaples has been stalled by his appeals in state Supreme Court.

Conahan and DeNaples served together on the board of First National Community Bank in Dunmore, where DeNaples was chairman until federal bank regulators suspended him in reaction to the perjury charges in January 2008.

Conahan resigned from the board last month after the charges against him were announced.

In the past two weeks the bank has filed legal action to collect $4.15 million from defaulted loans guaranteed by Conahan, Ciavarella, bank board member Michael G. Cestone, Powell and his law partner, Luzerne County Prothonotary Jill A. Moran.

The loans were taken by W-Cat Inc., the company behind a failed townhouse development in Wright Township.

The Judge and the Drug Dealer

My longstanding antipathy to Judge Michael Conahan is well known, from insinuations of illegal and unethical behavior to a cavalier disregard for the law and concept of Justice. I also have an issue with the tidy little deal he gave Cobra Video's owner and gay Pornographer Bryan Kocis in 2002.

After Kocis was charged with rape,molestation of a 15 yo and filming of gay child pornography Conahan "reviewed" hundreds of hours of footage and declared all the boys in the video were of age. He refused to allow outside review of the video by Federal experts.
He allowed Kocis to accept a deal of one year probation, with no jail time and a refusal to require that Kocis register as a sex offender.

Perverted Justice if you ask me!

Luzerne County Judge in business with ex-con?

By
BY DAVE JANOSKI
STAFF WRITER

Published: Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Updated: Wednesday, July 16, 2008 1:00 AM EDT

WILKES-BARRE — 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 Judge 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 Judge Conahan, the judge’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.

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

Mr. Rebhan, who spent more than four decades in car sales, had previously worked with Mr. Belletiere at a Florida dealership. In spring or summer 2004, Mr. Belletiere set up a lunch meeting with Judge Conahan, his wife and Mr. Rebhan in Florida, where they discussed how the business would be set up and operated, Mr. Rebhan said.

Judge 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.

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

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

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

Judge 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 Judge Conahan an “unindicted co-conspirator” in the case, according to a transcript.

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

In a 2003 interview, Judge 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 Mr. 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.

Mr. Belletiere, 53, who lives in south Florida, did not respond to an interview request made through his daughter, Briana. She acknowledged her father had operated RAB Auto Sales Inc., but believed the company is no longer active.

Judge Conahan listed RAB Auto Sales on his annual financial disclosure forms filed with the state Supreme Court for 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007.

Judge 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.

source The Scranton Times Tribune