YT YouTube2Text

YouTube2Text → Transcripts → Kids for Cash (2013) | English Full Movie | Documentary

Kids for Cash (2013) | English Full Movie | Documentary — Transcript

by CinemaGalaxy · 14,180 words · 2,343 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

Open in transcriber Summarize with AI Download SRT/VTT

Full transcript

0:35[music]
0:43[music]
0:53[music]
1:01>> Increasingly, juveniles are committing
1:03serious violent [music] crimes. In a
1:05recent 10-year period, the number of
1:07murders by teens aged 14 to 17 rose an
1:10astonishing [music] 165%.
1:12As judge, if given the opportunity to
1:15try a juvenile offender as an adult, I
1:17will. If you're a teen and convicted of
1:19murder, rape, or violent crimes [music]
1:21against our children or the elderly, you
1:23can expect that I will impose the
1:24maximum sentence allowed by law. Mark
1:27Ciavarella, a judge to protect all of
1:29us.
1:31Raise your right hand.
1:33Do you, Mark A. Ciavarella, Jr.,
1:35solemnly swear
1:37that you will support, save, and defend
1:39the Constitution of the United States
1:42and under this Commonwealth?
1:46>> [music]
1:53>> After Columbine, I would travel to the
1:56schools, and I would explain to the
1:58students that it's a zero-tolerance
2:00policy.
2:04I instructed the probation department
2:07that I would not tolerate
2:09violence in school,
2:11weapons in school. I didn't want drugs
2:13in school.
2:18I would tell them that high school
2:20shouldn't be ruined by 2% of the kids
2:22screwing it up for the other 98%.
2:29For the life of me, I don't understand
2:30how that was a bad thing.
2:39I did fight in school.
2:42And I knew, I mean, I knew I was going
2:43to get in some kind of trouble. You're
2:44not allowed to fight.
2:47I just wish I could go back in time and
2:50start over from then.
2:54I'm not a kid anymore.
2:56Life goes on. That's what I just keep
2:59telling myself as life goes on.
3:15>> [music]
3:27[music]
3:52>> When groups like you come here for just
3:54a kind of fun tour the courthouse and to
3:56find out what happens in Luzerne County,
3:58he's always the highlight of the tour.
4:00Not only is he our president judge, but
4:02he has traditionally handled all of the
4:05juvenile cases. All of the young people
4:07who come before the courts
4:08>> [music]
4:08>> go before Judge Ciavarella.
4:11And he has
4:12a wonderful, important message for you
4:15this morning. I'd like to introduce
4:17President Judge of Luzerne County, the
4:18Honorable Mark Ciavarella.
4:23>> [applause]
4:25>> Thank you, Kathy. Good morning.
4:28It's a pleasure to be here today,
4:31and it's a pleasure to see
4:33each and every one of you,
4:34and to get to deliver a message that I
4:37hope you listen to.
4:40I don't know what life has in store for
4:42you.
4:43I don't know what life has in store for
4:46me from this moment on.
4:49But I do know
4:51that there's only one person, one person
4:54in this whole world
4:55who can control what happens to me.
5:00That's me.
5:02And there's only one person in your life
5:05who can control what happens to you.
5:09And that's you.
5:12Whatever you have done in the past,
5:15whatever sins you have committed,
5:18you can't go back and undo it.
5:21You are going to have an opportunity
5:22today to experience
5:25what happens to people in prison.
5:29If you decide it's worth it,
5:31I'll be glad to put you there.
5:34I bought a moped. My parents bought it
5:36for me.
5:38It ended up to be stolen. [music]
5:40They paid $250 for it.
5:43I had it for, I think, like, 2 weeks.
5:47I guess someone saw me riding it and
5:49recognized it, and the cops came to my
5:51house.
5:52They read [music] the serial numbers or
5:54something, and they came up stolen.
5:58It just so happened to be that
6:00I bought something that was stolen.
6:04I tried to tell them this something's
6:05going on, and they told me that I was an
6:07overprotective parent. And I said,
6:09"Well, I don't know what that means. I
6:11said, but all I want is my son home."
6:15I was 12 years old, and uh I wanted to
6:17walk my younger brother to the bus stop.
6:20When I was 12, I had a I had a mouth on
6:21me.
6:23And I got into an argument with this
6:24little girl's mom. She was saying, "You
6:25shouldn't be using that language, blah
6:26blah blah." I mean, she was nowhere near
6:28as nice as I'm being about it right now.
6:29>> [music]
6:29>> And we got into a big argument. I was,
6:31you know, "F you, F you, F you." You
6:33know, it ended. It was nothing big, and
6:34I went to school, and uh I got to
6:35school, my principal came out, and uh
6:37first thing he did was, you know, "We
6:38got to pat you down. We got to search
6:39you." I knew there was something wrong
6:41that they were taking this [music] kid
6:43and locking him up time after time after
6:45time. There was never any such instance
6:47of guilt or innocence.
6:48>> [music]
6:48>> They were going. There was nothing.
6:50There was nothing anyone could do.
6:52Caller identified [music] himself as
6:54Officer Rusiski, and he said he was
6:56calling about my daughter, Hillary. She
6:59created a MySpace page, and I'm coming
7:01down to arrest her. [music]
7:03Ed was drinking.
7:05I
7:06remember Ed's father telling me that he
7:09knows [music] Ed's at this underage
7:10drinking party.
7:12He had this plan to go up with these two
7:15um cops that were friends of his, and
7:18they were going to go in, get Ed out of
7:20there, and get something on him that was
7:22going to get him caught, like, scare him
7:24straight kind [music] of thing. Little
7:26did I know that we have no rights, that
7:28he's in their custody now.
7:30I was in eighth grade. I was 13.
7:33Me and this girl, we used to be friends,
7:35but she was sitting there calling me a
7:36[ __ ] and a [ __ ] and I can't stand you
7:38because we weren't friends anymore. So,
7:40I threw a volleyball at her. Then, when
7:42she walked past me, she did one of those
7:43hair kind of flips in my face, and then
7:46I had it my
7:47>> [music]
7:47>> it was over. We ended up fighting. They
7:49took me to the office
7:51with the police officer. Called my
7:53father, told him to come get his crazy
7:55daughter out of their school. She's
7:56starting trouble.
7:58Your kid was locked up for slapping a
8:01girl. It shouldn't have never went any
8:03farther than the local magistrate
8:04[music] if the school wasn't satisfied
8:06with suspending her for 3 days. Not out
8:08to a juvenile judge.
8:11And then to find out it was all from
8:13greed.
8:15>> [music]
8:18>> This lady, she pulled my dad back, and
8:21she grabbed my arm, and she's like,
8:22"Come at me."
8:24Judge Ciavarella, he didn't even want to
8:27know anything from my side of the story.
8:32I was only 14.
8:34I couldn't believe that it was
8:36happening.
8:39I was just, you know, scared out of my
8:40mind. I cried in front of everyone in
8:42the courtroom for like 30 minutes.
8:46I remember him just turning around and
8:48looking at me, and I'll never forget
8:50that look.
8:56>> [music]
8:59>> Former Luzerne County Judge Mark
9:01Ciavarella faces charges [music]
9:02tonight. Prosecutors say he ruined
9:04countless young lives, sending children
9:06to jails in return for cash.
9:09Two judges [music] in Pennsylvania
9:11pleaded guilty today to taking huge
9:13payoffs to send teenagers to
9:15privately-run detention centers.
9:17>> Former judges Mark Ciavarella and
9:19Michael Conahan arrived at the federal
9:21courthouse.
9:21>> Prosecutors accused them of sending
9:23juveniles to a privately-run detention
9:25center.
9:25>> The evidence against [music] the former
9:27judges was compiled by the Federal
9:28Bureau of Investigation. In a scandal
9:31known as kids-for-cash, a kids-for-cash
9:34scheme. Dojin judges [music] are getting
9:36payback from the private sector. $2.6
9:38million in kickbacks in return for
9:41sentencing kids [music] to juvenile
9:43detention. Folks,
9:46that's not a bribe. I call that a
9:48justice bonus.
9:50>> [laughter]
9:50>> Young offenders, often with no prior
9:53record, were brought before these judges
9:55for charges as minor as writing prank
9:57notes. I don't deserve this. I mean, I'm
9:59not a criminal. These [music] people are
10:01wolves in sheep's clothing because the
10:04kids trust these people. The people in
10:06this county trusted this guy.
10:13>> [music]
10:24>> Times-Leader Terry Morgan. Okay, um so
10:25you're going to have a press conference
10:27and you're you're you're just getting
10:28people over there now. Judge Conahan and
10:30Judge Ciavarella had entered plea
10:32agreements with the federal government
10:34in which they were going to plead guilty
10:36to honest services fraud in a tax case.
10:39For Ciavarella, the key thing was that
10:41he had an obligation to tell the
10:43juveniles who were appearing before him
10:46that he had accepted money from this
10:48owner of this private juvenile detention
10:50center and that he did not do that. So,
10:52he deprived the public of his honest
10:54services.
10:56We'd interviewed Judge Ciavarella a
10:58number of times back in 2004 when we
11:00first started looking into what was
11:01happening in juvenile court. We'd
11:03actually gone to one of the schools
11:05while he was giving a presentation there
11:07because that was one of his big things.
11:09He went to every school every year and
11:12told them, "If you commit an an offense
11:13in school, I'm going to put you away."
11:16And that was his justification so that
11:17when they appeared before him, it didn't
11:19matter what the charge was. He'd ask
11:21him, "Were you there when I gave the
11:22speech?" Yes. "Did you hear what I
11:24said?" Yes. "What did I say?" "You said
11:26you put me away." "So, what do you
11:28think's going to happen now?" "You're
11:29going to put me away." "You're right.
11:31Take them out of here."
11:33I'm very shy, but once someone does get
11:36to know me, they find out that I don't
11:38shut up and I'm really loud. Um and I
11:41I'm extremely cynical and and and snarky
11:45and sarcastic and just a like I I made
11:48it my goal to be the funny guy. My
11:51girlfriends and I we started talking
11:53about how funny it would be if we made
11:55like a fake MySpace page about my vice
11:58principal and then it was decided that
12:01it had to be made and it was going to be
12:03hilarious.
12:05>> [music]
12:17>> The police officer said he was charging
12:19her with abuse of the internet,
12:22terrorism, stalking, one of which was a
12:26uh
12:27federal crime.
12:29And I'm like, "Oh my god." Like, I'm
12:31kind of freaking out. I told the officer
12:34that he was not speaking to my daughter
12:36without an attorney and that's when he
12:38started yelling.
12:39Telling me that parents like me try and
12:42get our children off and that's why
12:44they're bad kids and
12:46>> [music]
12:46>> as soon as I said no lawyer,
12:48he backed off.
12:50He said, "If you're going to be
12:51cooperative, you'll get instructions in
12:54the mail."
12:55And I was like, "He's telling us be
12:57cooperative and everything will be
12:58fine."
13:01When I came off the elevators, there
13:02were tables [music] and the woman slid a
13:04paper, a form, but it was blank. And she
13:07said, "Uh do you have an attorney?" And
13:09I said, "No." And she said, "Sign here."
13:11Okay, so I signed here.
13:14We were briskly brought into the
13:15courtroom.
13:17The judge leaned across the table and
13:20yelled, "What makes you think you can do
13:22this kind of crap?" And I had my hand on
13:25Hillary's shoulder so I could feel her
13:26backing up and I just whispered in her
13:29ear, "It's okay. It's okay."
13:31Things went very quick in the courtroom,
13:33>> [music]
13:33>> um about 60 seconds. And while I was
13:37being handcuffed, I could hear my mother
13:39wailing right next to me [music] and the
13:42woman who was cuffing me goes, "Look
13:43what you did to your mother." And I was
13:46just like I I was completely confused.
13:49[music]
13:51What flashed in my head is they just
13:53took my daughter away from me. She now
13:55legal and physical custody [music] is no
13:57longer mine and they're going to take
13:59her away. That's what that means.
14:01I don't know what to do. I was kind of
14:03numb.
14:04And then I started calling the locals,
14:07public defenders, the state, [music] the
14:10governor's action line. They told me to
14:11call the ACLU and they sent me to a
14:14woman at Rutgers University in New
14:16Jersey.
14:17And [music] she said, "Look, you're in
14:18Pennsylvania. I can't help you, but I
14:20know these wonderful people called
14:22Juvenile Law Center in Philadelphia."
14:27We received this phone call from Laurene
14:29Transue, Hillary Transue's mother, who
14:32told us a story that was eerily
14:35familiar.
14:37We first encountered Judge Ciavarella in
14:401999 and we had a call from a parent who
14:45contacted us about her then 12-year-old
14:48son who had been adjudicated delinquent
14:50by Judge Ciavarella.
14:53We were particularly interested in the
14:56fact that he had appeared without
14:57counsel in a violation of his
14:58constitutional rights. So, we appealed
15:00the adjudication and the Superior Court
15:03reversed this young man's delinquency
15:05adjudication.
15:07We had this impression that Ciavarella
15:10had been taught a lesson when we heard
15:12from Hillary Transue's mother because it
15:15was Ciavarella, because it was really
15:17just an identical situation. We wanted
15:21to understand whether or not this was a
15:23much broader problem.
15:25>> And Hillary suggested that it was. She
15:26said, "You know, I wasn't the only one
15:27in placement who was tried and sent away
15:30without a lawyer. There are other kids."
15:32We began to look at state data. Luzerne
15:35County had a rate of waiver of counsel
15:3710 times as high as the rest of the
15:39state. So, you had a really high number
15:41of kids appearing without counsel who
15:43were placed. These were all really
15:45really very red flags. The question for
15:48us at that point was what was really
15:50going on in Ciavarella's courtroom.
15:52We started to investigate further and we
15:54stood outside juvenile court. We started
15:56to get stories from from from kids about
15:59what had happened. Many of them were
16:00incarcerated for very minor offenses.
16:04Something's wrong here.
16:06I mean, I wanted to go stand on top of
16:07the Times-Leader building and scream,
16:09"Someone look at what's going on here.
16:11Someone please look at this." Once we
16:13put together the the picture that was
16:16emerging from Ciavarella's courtroom, we
16:18realized that
16:20the so-called promise of Ciavarella back
16:22in 2001 to respect the constitutional
16:25rights of kids to have counsel was an
16:27empty promise. We had to make a decision
16:29about what legal remedies we had
16:31available to us. We filed a King's Bench
16:34petition with the Pennsylvania Supreme
16:35Court to fix it. And for us, fixing it
16:37really was about undoing all of these
16:39convictions of these kids and expunging
16:42and erasing their records. We were not
16:44aware of the issue of the not having
16:45counsel. We didn't find out about that
16:47until 2008 when the Juvenile Law Center
16:50filed its petition. We were inundated
16:53with calls from parents saying, "That
16:56happened to me, too. They told me I
16:57didn't need an attorney. I went in
16:58there, 3 minutes in my kid was hauled
17:00away in shackles." This story after
17:03story after story. I I swear it was a
17:04broken record. Everyone independently
17:06told the same story.
17:07>> Immediately in the wake of our filing
17:09this application with the Pennsylvania
17:11Supreme Court, we received a call from
17:13someone identifying themselves as
17:15working for the FBI, which is not a call
17:17that we get every day here at Juvenile
17:19Law Center.
17:19>> But after speaking with Marsha and staff
17:22here and getting a sense of how the
17:23juvenile justice system operates and
17:24what we thought was going on,
17:26uh
17:27they got a search warrant and seized
17:29records.
17:32What they were interested in knowing
17:33from us was really tell us what you
17:36think was going on in Ciavarella's
17:38courtroom. How did you come to determine
17:40this? Tell us about the violations of
17:42right to counsel.
17:50She was a good kid, I guess I would have
17:52to say. She wasn't able to get away with
17:54very much of anything. She had an older
17:56brother and two older sisters. So, they
17:59kind of watched out for
18:00>> [music]
18:00>> but she was happy. You know, she wasn't
18:03a sad kid. She was never depressed, you
18:05know. [music] She was a singer. She was
18:07in chorus. When she was a little girl,
18:10Amanda and her sister missed, I would
18:13say like one day [music] of school.
18:15My mom and dad separated, but we still,
18:18you know, spent time with each other.
18:21I was straight A student, then I went
18:23starting to the Bs. As I was getting
18:25older, I started getting into Bs and not
18:27paying so much attention. I had like a
18:28crowd of friends that, you know, I
18:30wouldn't really my parents wouldn't
18:32really want me around, but then I had
18:33another crowd of friends that were like
18:35really positive with me. I was trying my
18:38best in school to stay out of trouble,
18:39you know what I mean, but it wouldn't
18:40work out all the time. That's when
18:43everything started.
18:46Raising the four boys, it wasn't easy,
18:48but we did a lot of together stuff. I
18:50mean, we struggled, don't get me wrong.
18:52It was a single parent home, single
18:53[music] income. I remember we used to
18:55have like a family game night. We would
18:58just sit around and play board games all
18:59night, which I thought was pretty cool
19:00because, you know, you see people doing
19:01it on commercials. So, that you know,
19:02puts in your mind that this is what it's
19:04supposed to be. You know what I mean? If
19:05you're not doing this, you're wrong.
19:06>> At that time, Justin was acting out. I
19:08was newly divorced. He wasn't a bad kid.
19:11He was just getting cocky.
19:13Justin was always a busy child. He was
19:15always extremely intelligent. He had a
19:17genius IQ by the time he was 7. I
19:19started like building like little
19:20websites and I got into computers, but
19:22that was before I was, you know, getting
19:25locked up and stuff.
19:27I would believe it was a normal
19:28childhood. I mean,
19:32I did everything [music]
19:33that every kid would do. I pretty much
19:36grew up camping, just state forests and
19:39stuff around here. My favorite thing was
19:42actually just being with my family. It
19:44was time spent with them.
19:46Once uh Charlie went to school, he
19:49wanted to go to school, wanted to go to
19:50school and uh
19:52the first day of school he went to
19:53school and he came back and he said I'm
19:55not going. He had a very tough time
19:58from then. There's a a little piece of
20:01skin that grows in your mouth on the the
20:03bottom. It had grown to his teeth, which
20:06made not only his vowels bad, it made
20:10every sound of the alphabet bad.
20:13Once he got out of uh
20:15elementary school, they put him in
20:18Plains Alternative Learning School,
20:20>> [music]
20:20>> and that is where
20:23um really the the trouble began. He'd
20:26come home and he'd say, "I shouldn't be
20:28there. I don't know where I should be,
20:29but this isn't the school for me." He'd
20:32say, "Mom, these these kids are bad."
20:34When I turned 14, [music]
20:36it just went down downhill.
20:40The first day I walked into the
20:41courthouse, I already went in with a
20:43feeling that something big unexpected's
20:45going to [music] happen. I'm already
20:46scared right from as soon as I got out
20:47of bed that morning. Like something's
20:48going to happen. I'm going to see a guy
20:49with a lot of power.
20:51This may not be good for me. We got to
20:52the the court building, and it's loaded.
20:56There's tons of people there. I didn't
20:58think [music]
20:59anything of it. Like I thought I was
21:01coming back home and everything. The
21:03dome inside the old courthouse is just
21:05so big. It's like it was designed to
21:06make you feel small. It was designed to
21:08scare me. You know what I mean? And it
21:10it worked. We were literally in there a
21:12minute and a half at the most. The judge
21:15had already had everything in front of
21:16him. All he did was look through some
21:18papers, and then he told me
21:21that was that was
21:23I was a troubled kid.
21:26And I don't think I was. It wasn't just
21:29the scooter. Judge Ciavarella actually
21:31took into account that Charlie was
21:33having problems in school.
21:35How did he put it now? What this appears
21:37to be is parents that have lost control
21:41of a child. And he said, "I think it's
21:44time for me to get this child back in
21:46control."
21:48And uh
21:49he said the Camp Adams 90 days.
21:53And they shackled my son and took him
21:55away, and that was that was
21:59They should not do that. They should not
22:01do that at all in front of a parent.
22:03That was the most horrible thing.
22:07I will never ever forget that part of
22:10it.
22:12They made me kneel with my knees on a
22:15chair, and they picked up my jeans, and
22:17they shackled my legs.
22:19And there's this little belt, and they
22:21shackled with a belt. They tied in the
22:22back, and they kept me in the shackles
22:24till we got to the detention place. That
22:26was
22:27crazy. I felt like I was a grown adult
22:30going to a big jail. Like if I'm
22:33thinking of a 13-year-old mind brain
22:35now, you know what I mean? And I'm going
22:36in these gray sweatpants and these
22:38shackles and handcuffs, and
22:40that makes me feel like I'm a really
22:41really bad kid. So while I'm having all
22:43my hands, I was like
22:45I didn't I was confused. us in this big
22:47van.
22:48They drove us up to LCJC.
22:52Most of what you see first is fences.
22:5420-ft tall fences with a rows of razor
22:56wire like I'm a convicted criminal, like
22:58I'm a a murderer. And that's what it
22:59feels like. You you feel like
23:01I'm now one of those people you see in
23:03the movies. Slider, please.
23:07I woke up in a nice bed with my family,
23:09and I went to sleep with cockroaches and
23:11criminals.
23:14Every time you went into a room, you had
23:15to do a roach look. Like to make sure
23:17there's no roaches anywhere.
23:19It's dirty, there's stains in the walls,
23:21and it's echoey like in the movie
23:22prisons. Like throughout the like the
23:24cell blocks.
23:25>> I was scared every day. I was scared
23:27every day because of the fact that I
23:28wasn't at home.
23:30I hate the fact that I can't go to
23:31school. Like that's your childhood life,
23:33growing up and going to school.
23:36You never realize how much you miss your
23:38parents until you're away from
23:43I feel like my heart was ripped out. So
23:45I was just depressed.
23:49You can't do nothing. You can't talk to
23:50nobody to come home early. Like you
23:52couldn't have in jail. You can't bail
23:53nobody out.
23:55They treated you like you were a piece
23:56of [ __ ]
23:58They used to just talk to you how they
23:59wanted to.
24:04All the kids are looking at you like,
24:05you know, who's this guy? You know, is
24:07he someone I'm going to have to worry
24:08about? Is he someone that I can take his
24:09stuff?
24:12I talked to staff more than the actual
24:13residents.
24:14I felt safe in that because a staff
24:16member isn't going to beat you up, at
24:18least not in this facility.
24:21You did a lot of like
24:23physical training, like running and
24:26jumping jacks and stuff.
24:28You stayed in your cell almost all day.
24:32The only time you leave is to go eat
24:35three times a day.
24:39The first 2 weeks, I didn't even have a
24:40pillow.
24:43Like you had to earn a pillow.
24:46All your hours in this little tiny room.
24:51Do your school work from in there and
24:53everything.
24:57Near the end of my stay, a kid said, you
24:58know, I had a home pass, and he goes, "I
24:59snuck in some weed." And I was 12, I
25:01never tried it. I was very interested
25:04just because, you know, 3 months of
25:05living around criminals, you're like,
25:06"Yeah, I want to do it, man. I want to I
25:07want to try it, too, you know?"
25:11That was the first time I'd ever done
25:13it. And that I was like, "Wow, you know,
25:15it was fun." Not even getting high part,
25:17it was just, you know, the unity.
25:20I'd write a lot of letters.
25:23They're not letters. They're more like,
25:24I don't know.
25:26Poemish things.
25:29Life presents us with challenges that we
25:32must overcome.
25:34And sometimes all the detours can leave
25:37the senses numb.
25:40Life is filled with stumbling blocks we
25:42pass along the way.
25:44But it can become a stepping stone when
25:46love comes into play.
25:49Wherever there is an obstacle that we
25:51must rise above, it helps to overcome it
25:54with an attitude of love.
25:56For anger never solves a thing, and
25:59stress will bring us down. But love
26:01unlocks the doorway where hope and faith
26:04are [music] found.
26:07Life presents us with challenges that we
26:10must rise above.
26:12And blessed is he who can maintain an
26:14attitude of love.
26:18I tried writing the judge a letter.
26:22I was just telling him like I learned my
26:24lesson. I never fought before. I
26:26apologize. Can you give me another
26:28chance? I just want to let me out on
26:29house arrest.
26:31>> [music]
26:31>> I said, "Will you let me out on
26:32probation? I miss my family. This is
26:34weird to me." And I said all that stuff
26:36to him.
26:39And I get nothing back.
26:42I just
26:43gave up, and I did my time.
26:46And the next thing you know, 4 years of
26:48my life just keeps going on, and keeps
26:49going on, and keeps going on.
26:57Kids were being sold for cash
27:01by former Luzerne County President Judge
27:04and Juvenile Judge Mark Ciavarella.
27:08And we're talking about what happened to
27:10them at the hands of this abusive judge.
27:15I'm Corbett. You're listening to WILK AM
27:18103.1 FM.
27:20Hello, Judge.
27:22Jim Avila, ABC News 20/20.
27:25You know, a lot of people are wondering
27:26how a man of such distinction like
27:27yourself
27:28could have gotten in so much trouble and
27:31sold these kids down the river.
27:32>> Well, let's stop right there. Didn't
27:34sell any kids down the river. I showed
27:36him in black and white what the US
27:38Attorney had charged, that he sentenced
27:40kids for cash. It's not what you think
27:43it means. Go talk to the juvenile people
27:45in Luzerne County, and you will
27:46understand what that means. This doesn't
27:47mean that you got improper money
27:50for placing juvenile offenders into PA
27:52child care. Yes.
27:53That's what it says. We came to a plea
27:55agreement. I'm not pleading guilty to
27:57anything relative to cash for kids,
27:59embezzlement, extortion,
28:01quid pro quo. Absolutely not.
28:04The judges initially entered a plea
28:06agreement with prosecutors in January of
28:082009. And the plea agreement they signed
28:11specified a specific sentence of 87
28:14months.
28:15Over the course of that time period,
28:18though, Ciavarella had spoken out
28:20publicly that he still maintained that
28:23he did not do anything wrong. I
28:25specifically remember one time that he
28:27was talking to one of the the television
28:29stations.
28:30He just adamantly maintained that, you
28:32know, he never jailed a kid for cash. It
28:34was always because he felt it was in the
28:35best interests of the of the juvenile.
28:38And he said that.
28:40And I and I was watching him, and I
28:41looked to my husband, and I said, "You
28:42know what?
28:43That judge is going to reject that plea
28:45agreement because of what he said." Good
28:47evening, everyone. I'm Candace Kelly.
28:48>> And I'm Drew Speier. Ciavarella and
28:50Conahan were previously accused of
28:52orchestrating what's been called one of
28:53the worst judicial scandals ever. But
28:56their plea deals bottomed out. Now the
28:58US Attorney's Office has filed a whole
29:01new case. In February, Conahan and
29:03Ciavarella pleaded guilty to honest
29:05services fraud, and were set to go to
29:07prison for 7 years. In July, a federal
29:10judge knocked that plea deal right off
29:12the table. Conahan was called an
29:14obstructionist, and the federal judge
29:16claimed Ciavarella denied his role in
29:18making cash off of imprisoning kids.
29:21They're now charged with money
29:22laundering, bribery, extortion, fraud,
29:25racketeering, and federal tax
29:27violations.
29:31Like I said, I just discussed it with
29:32everything, you know what I mean? I
29:34mean, here here's a guy that, you know
29:35what I mean?
29:37One of the best positions you can be in,
29:38a judge. A job of honor.
29:41And making terrific amount of money.
29:45Not counting all the gratuities, you
29:46know what I mean? He he to go
29:48and do this on top of everything else. I
29:50mean, that's just total greed.
29:53He was a public servant. He was trusted
29:55by the people to do a job. And he took
29:57advantage of us of us all. And that's
29:59very disheartening and it's pretty
30:00disgusting. I mean, he took advantage of
30:03you know,
30:04children that may have made a mistake
30:05somewhere along the line. He took it to
30:08the extreme. Like that fight in the
30:09school yard. We all got in fights in the
30:11school yard. You know, what I mean? I
30:13mean, there was a simple things that
30:14shouldn't have been sent to the
30:16detention center.
30:18I've known uh Mark Ciavarella for a long
30:21time. He was a, you know, very decent
30:23person, you know. And I was shocked when
30:25I found out what was going on.
30:28So, I I I just think he was a I won't
30:30say victim, you know, but he
30:32he just fell into a
30:33into a bad situation.
30:38Since the plea agreement was
30:40rejected, he he's not speaking to the
30:42media. He's learned to finally keep
30:44quiet.
30:46Are you ready to go to prison, Mark?
30:48Do you find it exonerating?
30:54I have not told my attorney that I
30:57agreed to do this documentary.
31:00And maybe
31:01me doing what I'm doing is going to come
31:03back
31:05to hurt me.
31:06But I felt this was an opportunity for
31:08me to let people know what really
31:10happened. I'm not this mad judge who was
31:13just throwing kids away and shipping
31:15them out and locking them up and putting
31:17them in shackles. No one would ever look
31:20at the whole picture. They only wanted
31:22to look at a little bit of the picture.
31:25All the media ever focused on was cash
31:27for kids.
31:29If that was something that the feds
31:31wanted to charge us with,
31:33then bring the charges and we'll go to
31:35trial.
31:37When Mark ran for judge, I
31:39I didn't know Mark that well.
31:41He came on the [music] bench in '96.
31:43That's when we started working together
31:45and developing a relationship and
31:46friendship.
31:47And we became very, very close friends.
31:50And still are today.
31:52Mark was a tough juvenile judge. But
31:55from all of the feedback I got when I
31:58was president [music] judge, from law
31:59enforcement, parents, the
32:02superintendents at the schools [music]
32:03and principals, uh told me he was
32:06working.
32:07He was doing a great job. I
32:09>> [music]
32:09>> I had never had a lawyer or anyone ever
32:11come to me and say that Mark was doing a
32:14bad job as juvenile judge or didn't have
32:17the interest of the kids at heart.
32:21Judge Ciavarella said did not plead
32:23guilty to kids for cash, I did not jail
32:25kids for money. But in reality, he never
32:27plead guilty to kids for cash. That's
32:29when the whole kids for cash angle was
32:30born.
32:32People saw they had a juvenile judge who
32:34was sending kids to a center. He got
32:36money from that center. They put one
32:38plus one together and it equaled two.
32:41And that really is an oversimplification
32:43of what happened.
32:44Mark started to talk about the
32:46deplorable conditions over the juvenile
32:48facility.
32:49Actually went to the commissioners and
32:51said, "We need you to build a new
32:53detention center."
32:56The commissioners said that they would
32:58build a facility, but they wanted to
32:59wait till after
33:00the election.
33:02The election came and went. There was no
33:05facility being built.
33:07From that point forward,
33:09my goal was to get a facility that was
33:11going to be safe
33:13and clean and an environment where I
33:15would feel comfortable if my kids had to
33:18go.
33:19Judge Ciavarella came in to see me one
33:21day and he said, "These guys aren't
33:22going to build this thing. It's never
33:24going to get done.
33:25You're good at putting investors
33:27together and doing things."
33:28>> [music]
33:29>> He said, "Why don't you try to put a
33:30group of investors together to build a
33:31juvenile detention center to lease it to
33:33the courts or the county." I said,
33:35"Okay, fine. I will."
33:39Judge Conahan was uniquely qualified to
33:41bring this deal together. He had a
33:43degree in finance and he was also a very
33:45wealthy and astute businessman. He had
33:47multiple business dealings in addition
33:49to being a judge. So, Conahan decided he
33:52was then going to seek out investors,
33:53including Robert Powell, who was a very
33:55good friend of his, to see if they could
33:57get money together to build a private
33:59for-profit center [music]
34:00that they then could lease to the
34:01county.
34:02Powell did that.
34:03Next, it goes back to Ciavarella.
34:06He was very good friends with Robert
34:08Mericle. He'd known him since uh Mericle
34:09basically was a kid.
34:11Mericle owned a construction company
34:13that specialized in in doing commercial
34:15developments. He suggested that Mericle
34:17put a bid in on the project, which
34:18Mericle did.
34:20He was the low bidder. He won the
34:22contract and then he built the center,
34:24which was owned by Powell and others.
34:26At some point, Robert Mericle walked
34:29into Ciavarella's chambers
34:31and told him that he was going to pay
34:33him a finder's fee as a reward for
34:35referring him. Ciavarella, on his own,
34:37decided that he was going to split it
34:39evenly with Judge Conahan. His reasoning
34:42was that Judge Conahan was the person
34:44who had put the deal all together. So,
34:45he felt that he was deserving of half
34:47the money.
34:50Rob Mericle was awarded the contract and
34:53after the contracts were in place,
34:56he said to me, and I'll never forget it,
34:58"This is your lucky day."
34:59And that's when he told me he was going
35:00to pay me a finder's fee. And that's
35:02when I asked him, "Is this legal? Is
35:03this something you can do?" And he said,
35:05"I do it all the time. Anybody that
35:06brings me a project, I pay them a
35:08finder's fee. And I'm going to pay you
35:10one."
35:1510% [music] of his construction cost,
35:17$2.2 million.
35:25I'm real good at this. I'm a news guy. I
35:27do this for a living. Now, from the
35:30Entercom Radio Studios in Northeast PA,
35:34here's Corbett. We're talking about
35:37justice. We're talking about lawyers.
35:39We're talking about kids for cash.
35:42Let's go to Michelle. Michelle calling
35:44from Harvey's Lake.
35:46What's your take on this today,
35:47Michelle? This thing that it was a
35:49finder's fee, I absolutely do not
35:52believe that any of the people involved
35:54believe that. When you pay a judge cash
35:56money for anything other than
35:59the job the judge is paid by the
36:02taxpayers to do,
36:04they call that a bribe. They call that a
36:06kickback.
36:09They accepted approximately $2 million
36:12from Robert Mericle. They claim it was a
36:14finder's fee.
36:16Finder's fee is not illegal. It happens
36:18a lot in real estate.
36:20What happened with Ciavarella, the
36:22reason it was illegal is he got the
36:23money and then he made judicial
36:25decisions without advising the people
36:28who were appearing before him that he
36:29took that money.
36:31And he also had not reported the income
36:33that he received on his taxes for that
36:35year.
36:36That is the only thing he has he is
36:37admitting to. Anything else regarding
36:40the kids for cash, he does not
36:41acknowledge.
36:43The first monies that we received were
36:46paid into Beverage Marketing. It was a
36:47company that Mike Conahan owned. He said
36:50to me, "Look it,
36:51I'm going to pay the taxes
36:53on
36:54this money." Unfortunately for me, he
36:56never paid the taxes.
36:58But what I ethically did wrong was I did
37:00not put Rob Mericle's name down on my
37:02ethics statement that I filed with the
37:04Supreme Court that I received income
37:07from an outside source.
37:08And and that was wrong. I had two
37:10choices.
37:12I could
37:14take the money and report it.
37:17And if I wasn't going to report it,
37:19don't take it.
37:21Well, I chose to take the money and not
37:22report it. But did I think it was a
37:24crime? No.
37:26Did I know I was committing an ethical
37:27violation? Absolutely. And the dark side
37:30is I wasn't strong enough
37:33ethically
37:34to not do that.
37:37I was concerned how people would
37:38perceive the juvenile court judge
37:40getting a finder's fee from the person
37:42who built the facility. It wouldn't be
37:44perceived too well.
37:46Well, unfortunately, that wasn't a good
37:48story. Cash for kids was a better story.
37:51Fill me with flaming desire. Normally,
37:55I'd make some kind of a crack about this
37:56being the kind of music that they play
37:58at the going away parties for gangster
38:00lawyers, but since we have Cliff Haines
38:03on the line, who's the president of the
38:05Pennsylvania Bar Association, I'll cut
38:07you a break, Cliff. I won't say that.
38:09>> But I think they plead guilty
38:11conditionally
38:13to a theft of honest services. Correct.
38:16What does that mean? They didn't plead
38:17guilty to
38:20sending children to a juvenile
38:24institution in return for cash.
38:26>> See, the federal government will argue
38:27with you that they did in fact do just
38:30that. Cliff Haines is the president of
38:32the Pennsylvania Bar Association. Come
38:34back, we'll talk MORE WITH HIM. YOU
38:36BETTER LISTEN.
38:38The government said from day one that it
38:40was a quid pro quo. Now, Ciavarella was
38:42saying, "No, that's not true." And we
38:44started to see that this might not come
38:47together as smoothly this plea agreement
38:49as as had originally been hoped for.
38:52All I know is
38:54the deal is off
38:56and we're supposed to get ready for
38:57trial. The feds say he sold kids for
39:01cash. That's what the feds say they will
39:04prove
39:06if this case goes to trial.
39:12Juvenile Law Center? I think what
39:14Ciavarella did was akin to putting on a
39:17robe and setting up a courtroom in his
39:19garage.
39:21When I received the call from Lorraine
39:23Transue and she told me what had
39:25happened to her daughter, who at that
39:26point was a sophomore in high school,
39:27our first concern was to get Hillary out
39:30of placement and to undo the
39:32adjudication of delinquency.
39:35The day of my new court hearing, we
39:38walked up to Judge Ciavarella and said
39:42that the original trial that we held was
39:45without an attorney and that
39:48I [music] did not know that I had waived
39:50my right to attorney.
39:52And that we had to have another trial.
39:55Ciavarella said, "All right, fine.
39:58You've got a week then."
40:01The night before I [music] had the
40:03second court hearing, the Juvenile Law
40:06Center was trying to work out something
40:08called a consent decree.
40:11A consent decree works similar to
40:13probation, except the terms are sort of
40:16negotiated. And at the end of the
40:18consent decree, my record would be
40:20expunged.
40:22Unfortunately, [music] the victim had to
40:24agree to the consent decree also.
40:27That day at court, we went in and
40:30Ciavarella [music] was like,
40:32"Wow, the the victim agreed to this? I
40:36guess I'll accept, [music] but
40:38you know what I think should be done
40:39with you so that you'll learn your
40:41lesson." He seemed pretty bent on
40:44sending me back.
40:47The failure around the country for too
40:49many years, and uh
40:51for actually decades, is that facilities
40:54have used a quarantine model. We'll just
40:55keep a kid out of their own home
40:57communities for a period of time with
40:59different people, and they will be cured
41:02somehow of their behavior, uh or at
41:05least won't be misbehaving at home.
41:07And when they return, they'll be better.
41:09Well, it doesn't happen that way
41:09automatically. Placement of a child
41:11outside the home is an unnatural act
41:13when it's done involuntarily. It can be
41:14very traumatic and it disrupts normal
41:17adolescent development.
41:21They never let you out without
41:23probation.
41:24I got into a lot of trouble in school. I
41:25would talk back to my teachers. I was
41:27not a big fan of homework. And uh they
41:30instead of saying go to the principal,
41:32to me it was go to your probation
41:33officer cuz he was right downstairs.
41:37I mean, it was things like I jumped over
41:39a table in the lunchroom one time, and
41:40since my PO was in the school, that was
41:42a violation.
41:44As soon as I got down there, he pulled
41:45out a pair of handcuffs. He's like, "All
41:47right, if you do this again, you're
41:48going away till you're 21." That's
41:49scary.
41:50>> [laughter]
41:51>> When you know, when someone's sitting
41:52there and they say, "You know, if you
41:53mess up again, you're going to get 8
41:54years." And you know, I I'm not past
41:56puberty yet.
41:59One of the disturbing features about the
42:00juvenile justice system is that once
42:02kids get into the system, it's
42:03incredibly difficult for them to get
42:05out. There's a There's a mechanism that
42:08takes over that keeps kids in that
42:10system. If they get out of a facility,
42:12they're on probation. There are vast
42:15numbers of kids across the country who
42:16are picked up while on probation and
42:19re-incarcerated for technical probation
42:21violations.
42:22It is often a story that can go on not
42:25simply for months, but can go on for
42:27years. I had to see that Ciavarella's
42:29face so many times I could sketch it
42:30from memory.
42:33Ciavarella's like 3 and 1/2 ft on a good
42:35day, but he has this this stand and this
42:37chair that are just enormous. So, I
42:40mean, I I'm seriously like this. My neck
42:41hurt and trying to see this guy.
42:44He sentenced me to Northwestern Academy,
42:46which is like shave my head, military,
42:49like screaming in my face. I'm 14
42:50[music] years old, 13. Like,
42:52"Dude, what do you want? I jumped over a
42:54table."
42:55You don't get a 12-year-old put him in a
42:57placement with all these like criminals
42:59and expect him to come out saying, "You
43:00know, I'm going to be an outstanding
43:01citizen." Oh, he comes out knowing how
43:03to make explosives, knowing how to rob a
43:05place and not get caught. [music]
43:06Like, these kids would tell me things
43:07that I really did not need to know at,
43:10you know, 12, 13, 14.
43:14I just wanted to escape so bad. [music]
43:16I started drawing.
43:21The first run is in a cage because I was
43:23locked up. You used to like in a cage
43:25all day.
43:26The second one was a footstep, you know,
43:27the actual act of me getting out of
43:28there cuz I I kind of saw it as like a
43:30threefold process.
43:33And the last one is like the stripes of
43:34the flag in it. Like, standing tall, I'm
43:36free now.
43:38You're stuck, you're out. You stay out.
43:44When I did get released, that actually
43:46probably was the happiest day of my
43:47life.
43:48>> [sighs]
43:53>> When you jump in,
43:55Oh my god.
43:58My son, Eddie, he was always just a
44:00fireball.
44:022 years old, he rode a bicycle without
44:04training wheels.
44:07Ed's father, we weren't together for
44:09real long, but he was always part of his
44:12life.
44:13Ed was, I would say, 8 or 9 years old
44:17when the school started saying that he
44:20had attention deficit disorder. He was
44:22put on Ritalin.
44:24I didn't like what it was doing to him,
44:26and we didn't last long on it. I just
44:28thought that I'd rather him be him, and
44:31whatever we have to work on and deal
44:33with,
44:34we would just work on, and um he would
44:36learn that way.
44:38Ed was always a great kid, a respectful
44:41kid.
44:42But once he got older, 14, 15 years old,
44:45he did drink.
44:47I heard through his grandmother telling
44:50me that Ed's father was drinking, and
44:52she said Ed was drinking, too.
44:56I never thought that was appropriate. He
44:59needs you as a father, not not as his
45:01friend. I became, I think, the mother
45:03and the father.
45:05The summer before his senior year, I'd
45:07catch him sneaking out to go out with
45:09his [music] friends. And his dad saw him
45:10the one time coming home, and he had way
45:12too much to drink. His dad had this plan
45:15to go up with these two cops that were
45:18friends of his, and they took the pipe
45:22that was at this party and put it in his
45:23truck so that it would be, you know, in
45:25his possession.
45:27All we ever wanted was the best for Ed,
45:30you know, nobody's going to do anything
45:31that, you know, you think [music] is is
45:33going to hurt your kid.
45:36I just remember standing in front of the
45:38judge, and all I remember him saying
45:41is, "I'm sending you to the juvenile
45:43detention center for you to sit and
45:45think about what you've done."
45:48He went in there as a 17-year-old, you
45:50know, free-spirited kid, and then he
45:53came out of there like a like a hardened
45:55man, I would say.
45:58It wasn't long after he was out of there
46:00that
46:01he ended up getting into a fight
46:04because he was still on probation. He
46:06would have to go back in front of Judge
46:08Ciavarella. Everybody was saying that if
46:10you go back in front of him, he's going
46:11to lock you up till you're 21.
46:13Wasn't even 18 yet. So, um that's when
46:16he ran away.
46:19Went to Florida.
46:21He's probably gone for
46:23a month, and then he came home.
46:262 whole years went by.
46:28He was working in construction.
46:31He seemed to be happy again, you know,
46:33like, you know, just getting back to
46:35normal, but there was still that warrant
46:37from Judge Ciavarella.
46:39Ed did get in a little fender bender,
46:41and Judge Ciavarella sentenced him now
46:44to a juvenile detention center, and he's
46:46in this facility with 13- and
46:4814-year-old kids.
46:51Ed came out, and all I saw of him is
46:54that, you know, he was just just pent up
46:57with anger, he was.
47:00Ed got into a fight again,
47:02and uh
47:04he was charged with aggravated assault.
47:06So, he went to state prison.
47:11Kids are not just small adults, and the
47:14notion that kids who commit crimes
47:17should be punished in the same way as
47:19adults really ignores some very
47:21fundamental things that we now know
47:23about kids.
47:27The part of their brain uh that really
47:29governs their decision-making capacities
47:32and their exercise of judgment [music]
47:34is the last to develop, and so it
47:35continues to develop uh well into the
47:38early 20s.
47:41Their decision-making capacities are
47:42less mature.
47:44Their appreciation of risk is
47:46significantly less developed than that
47:49of an adult. Their understanding of the
47:51consequences of their behavior is
47:53significantly less developed than that
47:55of an adult.
48:03Two judges stand criminally charged.
48:07Whether they are guilty or innocent is
48:09not for this [music] commission to
48:11decide. Our focus is on developing
48:14recommendations to improve
48:16Pennsylvania's juvenile justice system.
48:19Our concern is also the inaction of
48:22others.
48:23Those who knew but failed to speak.
48:26Those who saw but failed to act.
48:30Here I was saying, "I'm the adult, trust
48:32me, because when we get to court, we can
48:35trust [music] that police officer. We
48:36can trust that judge to do the right
48:39thing, to be fair, to use their
48:41authority
48:42>> [music]
48:42>> appropriately."
48:44And that's not what happened. Do you
48:46just solemnly swear that the testimony
48:47you're about to give will be the truth,
48:49the whole truth, and nothing but the
48:50truth?
48:51I do. Have a seat, please.
48:54When did you become a district attorney,
48:55sir? Uh 2004. 2004? Yes. Who was the
48:59judge presiding at that time?
49:00>> [music]
49:00>> Uh that would be Ciavarella. According
49:02to the statistics that we've been
49:03provided, approximately 54% of the cases
49:05during this period uh were actually
49:08cases where a counsel was not appointed
49:10or counsel did not appear on behalf of
49:12the of the youth who appeared in the
49:13courtroom. I mean, half of the cases
49:14were without counsel?
49:15>> I mean, in in as much as I was there, I
49:17would say that as much as you saw
49:18lawyers, you didn't see lawyers.
49:26I'm the primary civil rights lawyer in
49:29northeastern Pennsylvania.
49:33Judge Ciavarella orchestrated a waiver
49:35system so that people were encouraged to
49:38waive their right to a lawyer
49:40out of court without adequate
49:42explanations. It is unbelievable
49:45that that number of people didn't have
49:48lawyers. We're talking about children.
49:50So, a child can't sign a contract. So,
49:54now you have parents
49:56signing away rights because the parents
49:59are scared, because the parents are
50:00being assured you don't really need a
50:02lawyer.
50:03>> I said to my friend, I said, "Man, did
50:06you have like a lawyer?" And she was
50:08like, "No, nobody has lawyers."
50:11And I was like, "But haven't you seen
50:13Law & Order? Like everybody has lawyers.
50:15Like you're supposed to have a lawyer.
50:17Like that's what If you don't have a
50:18lawyer, you get one assigned to you.
50:20Like isn't that then" She was like, "I
50:22guess it doesn't work that way for
50:24kids."
50:29I never denied a kid a right to an
50:31attorney. I shouldn't say that. Once I
50:33did.
50:34But from that point on, if you came into
50:36my courtroom and you wanted a lawyer,
50:38you got a continuance. That's why we had
50:40that written waiver.
50:42Because you can waive that right.
50:44You would read it, you would sign it.
50:46You come into court, I'd ask you if you
50:48signed it, yes. Did you understand it,
50:49yes. Okay, thank you, and we'd proceed
50:51with the hearing. Wasn't to trick
50:52somebody into, you know, pleading
50:54guilty. You weren't guilty, you weren't
50:56guilty.
50:57Your constitutional rights are not
50:59absolute. You can waive any one of those
51:01rights.
51:02The question becomes when you waive it,
51:04did you make a knowing and voluntary
51:05waiver?
51:08I became an assistant public defender in
51:101976,
51:12and in 1980 became the chief public
51:14defender. I've been head of been the
51:15chief public defender since 1980. That's
51:18been some 30 years I've been head of
51:19that office.
51:21I knew that there were a lot of kids in
51:23there without the representation.
51:25However, the only assumption we could
51:27make was that there were proper waivers
51:29in effect, that they waived their right
51:31to an attorney.
51:32Or all they have to say to the judge is
51:34we want a lawyer, and I had a lawyer
51:36standing there.
51:37So, it was very easy to get a lawyer,
51:40but I could also add the way Chivarello
51:42ran the courtroom,
51:44there was no difference in the
51:45disposition of cases that kids were
51:47represented or unrepresented. He sent
51:49everybody away. It was a school crime,
51:51you could have F. Lee Bailey there, and
51:53they would have got away.
51:55How did you come to work for the
51:57juvenile probation office?
51:59>> I applied for the job when it was
52:00opened.
52:01And which position was that?
52:03>> The chief of juvenile probation {slash}
52:05detention home administrator. What was
52:08your role in the disposition hearing?
52:10We handed the judge our recommendations.
52:13Was there anything put into policy,
52:16written policy? We [music] had zero
52:18tolerance policies
52:20that the judge had formulated.
52:25We just all became so paranoid and so
52:28afraid that if we didn't [music] address
52:32school violence and school issues
52:37in a stern way, something really bad
52:39could happen.
52:44The zero tolerance programs in [music]
52:46the United States arose out of
52:49shootings, killings, like Columbine in
52:521999. We think we should have zero
52:55tolerance for misbehavior [music]
52:58in the sense that when kids misbehave,
53:01they should be told that and taught how
53:03to behave.
53:05Zero tolerance also rested on the notion
53:08that kids
53:09are just like adults in the way that
53:11they would be deterred [music] from
53:13misbehaving. And if they knew that they
53:15would be suspended, expelled, or
53:16arrested for a wide range of typical
53:19adolescent misbehavior, that they
53:22wouldn't behave like teens, which is, of
53:24course, farcical.
53:26>> [music]
53:26>> So, what we have in this country is a
53:28zero tolerance policy based on
53:30deterrence theory that has no
53:31application to adolescence that
53:35suspends, expels, and arrests tens of
53:38thousands and hundreds of thousands of
53:40kids a year.
53:43Certainly after Columbine, everybody had
53:46to take a step back and say, you know,
53:47how do we protect our kids? And
53:49unfortunately, there's that that word
53:51liability, you know, it is is always out
53:54there.
53:55I've been with the Sewickley Area School
53:57District for 41 years in many different
54:00capacities, and finally a
54:01superintendent. I've been superintendent
54:03for approximately 15 years.
54:05Certainly we're here to educate
54:07children, but our most important
54:09responsibility is to provide a safe and
54:10secure environment. No one wants to send
54:13their child to an environment that they
54:15believe is not safe.
54:18What we have done over the past several
54:20years is we've hired a director of
54:21safety [music] and security,
54:23and we have three full-time uniformed
54:26police officers [music]
54:27that are within our school districts.
54:30We've introduced zero tolerance
54:32policies, especially when it deals with
54:35safety, security,
54:37and things like [music] that.
54:41The zero tolerance
54:42>> [music]
54:42>> has done an enormous amount of harm in
54:44the United States.
54:45>> We often refer to it as zero logic, zero
54:47sense. And I think like scared [music]
54:50straight programs, Chivarello used it as
54:54a program that he thought would operate
54:56as some deterrents.
55:00Columbine really did play an additional
55:02role in what happened. The schools just
55:05really started to crack down, and cases
55:07that normally would have been handled
55:08informally now went to juvenile court.
55:10And if you went to juvenile court before
55:12Mark Chivarello, and you committed a
55:13crime in school, you were going to
55:15juvenile detention.
55:17And also,
55:18everyone again assumes that he jailed
55:22kids for cash.
55:23But he always jailed kids. If you look
55:26at his placement rates dating back from
55:281996 when he took the court, he had
55:30extremely high placement rate in the 20%
55:32range. It wasn't just after building a
55:35private juvenile detention center, and
55:37certainly that that taints the idea of
55:40why he was jailing the juveniles,
55:42but he was always jailing them. There
55:45were letters of praise for Judge
55:46Chivarello for his philosophy. There
55:48were editorials in the newspaper, what a
55:50great judge he was,
55:52cleaning up the schools, cleaning up the
55:54streets.
56:00I wanted these kids to think that I was
56:02the biggest SOB that ever lived.
56:05I wanted them to be scared [music] out
56:07of their minds
56:09when they had to deal with me, because I
56:11was hoping because of that that they
56:13would never put themselves in a position
56:15again where they had to come back and
56:16deal with me.
56:18Family has an awful lot to do with
56:21why and how a kid gets [music] in the
56:22system.
56:25People don't know how to be parents.
56:29To me, the juvenile system was trying to
56:31teach children to be responsible.
56:35When I was growing up,
56:37didn't need the system to take care of
56:39my problems. My mother and father took
56:42care of my problems. I wanted to revert
56:44back to how
56:46my mom and dad raised us. And they
56:47raised us with a lot of love, a lot of
56:49caring, but a lot of discipline.
56:53My father was very hot-tempered,
56:56easy to fly off the handle.
57:00I was a freshman or sophomore in high
57:02school, and we drank a couple quarts of
57:04beer one night. One friend said, "Why
57:06don't we take that car and go for a
57:08joyride?"
57:09As we were about [music] to get in the
57:11car,
57:12I heard this voice say, "What are you
57:14doing?"
57:17I see my cousin and my friend take off.
57:22Police officer [music] says to me,
57:24"You better come with me."
57:26The next thing I know, juvenile
57:29detective John Gannis said he'd give me
57:31a ride home.
57:33And as we're driving to East End, I am
57:35getting sicker and sicker and sicker.
57:39We walk in the house, my mother calls my
57:41father,
57:43and he said to me, "What's the problem
57:44here?"
57:45I looked at my father, and I said, "We
57:47were going to steal." [music] I didn't
57:48get the word out of my mouth, and he
57:50just looks at me, and he says to me,
57:52"Look at your mother." And she was just
57:54hysterical. And she gives a "Can't
57:55believe my son's a criminal."
57:58At which point in time, my father starts
58:00to wind up, and I know it's coming. And
58:03he hits me, knocks me out cold.
58:15Your view of this is that placements
58:18were done as part of a rehab program
58:21>> thought out
58:22judicial philosophy. Yes. That you
58:25supported. To a degree I supported it.
58:29So, you have no basis to conclude that
58:32these placements were made from any
58:35improper, ulterior, or illegal motive. I
58:39don't think so.
58:40Unless I'm very naive, I don't think he
58:42did.
58:44The schools had a lot of influence in
58:47uh initiating complaints into the
58:49juvenile system.
58:50>> We were faced with what occurred at
58:53Columbine, and I think there was a
58:55reaction across the country and probably
58:58the world that you need to get tough
59:01with these kids.
59:01>> Why was it that everybody was so willing
59:03to say it's zero tolerance that these
59:05kids are being placed?
59:06>> Because everybody loved it. The schools
59:08absolutely loved it. They got rid of
59:10every bad kid in their school. When I
59:13was in school, if you threw a spitball,
59:14maybe you went to the principal's office
59:16and sat for a couple periods.
59:18Last couple years, if you threw a
59:20spitball, they got the police, and you
59:22ended up in juvenile court and get sent
59:24away.
59:26Young people need to know very clearly
59:29that there is a consequence for them if
59:32they decide to violate the law.
59:35And the consequence has to be clear
59:37and has to be fairly immediate.
59:40And I think that's one of the
59:41responsibilities of the juvenile justice
59:43system.
59:44The reality is that we have seen a
59:47substantial increase in the numbers of
59:49referrals to the juvenile justice
59:50system.
59:51Prior to Columbine, when misconduct
59:53occurred on school grounds, we all knew
59:55what the response would be. It would be
59:57a suspension, it would be after-school
59:59detention, it would be a slap on the
1:00:01wrist, a note in your file. But since
1:00:03Columbine, there [music] has been a rush
1:00:05to assume that the juvenile justice
1:00:07system can manage all behavior. That, of
1:00:10course, has been an over-response, it's
1:00:12a misuse of the juvenile justice system.
1:00:17It's becoming a common thing to have
1:00:20police officers and probation officers
1:00:22>> [music]
1:00:23>> either in the school or very nearby.
1:00:27I don't agree with that.
1:00:30You can't allow that one person
1:00:32to disrupt things to a point where
1:00:34everybody else is paying the price for
1:00:36their
1:00:37inability to control themselves.
1:00:40If there's an officer there, probation
1:00:42officer there, it's almost like a
1:00:43challenge to the students. And then I
1:00:45think it sends the message that hey, we
1:00:48as as school faculty and administration
1:00:51can't handle you.
1:00:54We're going to arrest them. And
1:00:56>> [music]
1:00:56>> we will do that in in an in an instant
1:00:58if we believe it's the right thing to
1:00:59do.
1:01:06Upon returning to school, I just got
1:01:09lower and lower and lower in my mood.
1:01:13A probation officer has his own office
1:01:15in the school.
1:01:17Sitting in the probation office was
1:01:19humiliating. Big, huge windows and
1:01:23everyone's walking by in between classes
1:01:25and there you are with your probation
1:01:27officer. And
1:01:28>> [music]
1:01:28>> some teachers, I think, were really
1:01:30disrespectful to me and a lot of that
1:01:33stemmed from the fact that well, oh,
1:01:35she's one of those stupid kids that got
1:01:37sent to camp.
1:01:43When I came home from placement to go
1:01:45back to school,
1:01:47for the first like month, I was okay.
1:01:49And then after that, I fought with my
1:01:50teachers, I argued, I was getting
1:01:52suspended. [music]
1:01:53I I felt like the new girl again and I
1:01:56really wasn't because I knew everybody.
1:01:58But then
1:01:59>> [music]
1:01:59>> like I have everybody like asking me
1:02:01what did I did, how's lockup, thinking
1:02:03it was like cool and stuff. And to me,
1:02:04it wasn't cool.
1:02:08The one time I made a comment in my
1:02:10class because I was known for being the
1:02:12jokester and the big mouth and we were
1:02:14talking about this silly evacuation
1:02:16program that
1:02:18if anyone [music] came with a gun and we
1:02:20had to
1:02:21run, we would all go out into this huge
1:02:23field and run away from the school. So I
1:02:25said, well, you know what, you stick
1:02:27with your evacuation plan. I'm friends
1:02:29with everybody, so that kid is going to
1:02:31remember that I let him borrow my pencil
1:02:33one time.
1:02:35And then the teacher [music] took me to
1:02:37the guidance counselor's office and said
1:02:39that I knew someone who was going to
1:02:40shoot up the school.
1:02:44I didn't fit [music] in. That's how I
1:02:45felt like. I didn't belong there.
1:02:48At first, I was telling my father like,
1:02:49you know, there's something that [music]
1:02:50feels like it's not right with me. I
1:02:52don't feel like I could be around people
1:02:53or something and
1:02:55he didn't believe me. He just said I was
1:02:56making excuses up not to go to [music]
1:02:58school and I was telling him like that
1:03:00everything's just so in my head all the
1:03:02time and
1:03:03it makes me nervous to just be around
1:03:05[music] people.
1:03:06It really does.
1:03:08And I know I'm not crazy, but
1:03:10something's not right. Like I cry,
1:03:13>> [music]
1:03:13>> I can't breathe sometimes. I'm like and
1:03:15it's not me, something's wrong.
1:03:17That's when I got diagnosed with a
1:03:18post-traumatic stress disorder,
1:03:20depression, [music] severe anxiety and
1:03:22mood swings.
1:03:23And then I was just missing school and
1:03:25missing school. I missed 78 days in my
1:03:27junior year.
1:03:30So then I just stay away.
1:03:37October,
1:03:39I came home
1:03:40for good.
1:03:43For all those years I missed
1:03:46high school, I never went to a prom, all
1:03:49my birthdays until my recent one, my
1:03:5119th birthday, I was always in a
1:03:54placement somewhere.
1:04:11I feel
1:04:13like it's my I fall.
1:04:16It's my husband's my fault that Charlie
1:04:19lost 5 years of his life.
1:04:23>> [snorts]
1:04:23>> You know, they're supposed to be, you
1:04:24know, your
1:04:27uh your good years, you know, your fun
1:04:29years,
1:04:31your teenage years. What does he have to
1:04:33talk about, you know? His lockups?
1:04:45A lot of people ask me if I hold a
1:04:47resentment against the judge or
1:04:49anything. I I don't.
1:04:52I move on with my life.
1:04:54That's how That's what I think I should
1:04:56do.
1:04:58Pursue college and
1:05:01I don't know, family.
1:05:06So, that's what I'm going to do.
1:05:09Future, I think looks good for me.
1:05:20News 16 at 11.
1:05:23Good evening, I'm Scott Schaffer. We
1:05:24begin tonight with another development
1:05:25in the ongoing corruption case in
1:05:27Luzerne County as a former judge agrees
1:05:30to plead guilty for a second time.
1:05:32>> Judge Conahan, do you want to say
1:05:32anything about the guilty plea today to
1:05:34the uh taxpayers of Luzerne County?
1:05:36>> I don't have a comment right now, Andy.
1:05:37Thank you, though.
1:05:38Former [snorts] Luzerne County Judge
1:05:39Michael Conahan admits he was a major
1:05:41player in the alleged kids-for-cash
1:05:43scheme, investigators say, and now
1:05:45Conahan agrees he and former Judge Mark
1:05:47Ciavarella worked together to make sure
1:05:50the PA Child Care Center would be built
1:05:52and thrive.
1:05:53According to federal prosecutors, Judge
1:05:56Conahan, as president judge, did
1:05:58everything he could to hide the kickback
1:06:00scheme. He made sure the county-owned
1:06:02juvenile facility was closed down and
1:06:05then he guaranteed that juveniles would
1:06:07be sent to the private facility in which
1:06:09he had a business interest.
1:06:12Michael Conahan is going down. I told
1:06:15you he was a gangster judge, remember?
1:06:17How long have I been telling you? Once a
1:06:19gangster, always a gangster.
1:06:22It all goes back to to Conahan. This
1:06:25guy's a from a district justice to a
1:06:27judge and and he had his hand in quite a
1:06:29few things. See, ambulance [music]
1:06:31company, beverage companies, the the
1:06:33strip club.
1:06:35Conahan had business ranging from beer
1:06:37distributorship to ambulance company. So
1:06:41if there was anybody who knew how to put
1:06:42something together, it was him.
1:06:51I started coming to Florida, I would
1:06:52say, in 1979.
1:06:55We just absolutely loved coming down
1:06:57here.
1:06:58I retired in January 2008.
1:07:03In the last year, I've been trying to
1:07:04get down here as much as possible just
1:07:06to clear my head and stay away from all
1:07:08the publicity
1:07:09up in northeastern Pennsylvania and just
1:07:11mind my own business and keep a low
1:07:13profile as possible.
1:07:18There's a side of me that loves Luzerne
1:07:19County and I miss my family and friends.
1:07:22Realizing that I made a mistake and I
1:07:24shouldn't have done what what I did,
1:07:26I agreed to sign the plea agreement.
1:07:29I should have had no business
1:07:30arrangements with the juvenile detention
1:07:32center.
1:07:33I'm willing to accept the consequences
1:07:35for it.
1:07:37Once they got the money, they then took
1:07:39a lot of steps to conceal how they got
1:07:41it or what it was for.
1:07:43Mericle would write up a commission and
1:07:46registration agreement in which she
1:07:48purported to pay a broker's fee to
1:07:51Robert Powell, who is the attorney. Then
1:07:53they would wire that money to another
1:07:55account that was held in a bank in I
1:07:56believe it was Susquehanna County.
1:07:59And then money from there would be
1:08:00transferred to businesses that were
1:08:02controlled by Conahan. One of those
1:08:03businesses was Beverage Marketing, which
1:08:06is a beer distributorship that Conahan
1:08:08owned. And then again, through another
1:08:09series of financial transactions, the
1:08:11money would be paid out and sent to bank
1:08:14accounts controlled by Conahan and
1:08:16Ciavarella. [music]
1:08:18It all goes back to Beverage Marketing
1:08:20and he's listed that on his financial
1:08:22forms.
1:08:24I don't think that any of the monies
1:08:25that were brought into Beverage
1:08:26Marketing that
1:08:27it's wrong. I mean, if if it was a
1:08:29finder's fee and I brought it in,
1:08:30whether I brought it into Beverage
1:08:31Marketing, whether I brought it under my
1:08:33name, whether I gave it to you, whether
1:08:34I gave it to charity, I I don't see as
1:08:36that's some kind of concealment. I mean,
1:08:38people wire money, give checks, that's a
1:08:40normal course [music] of business.
1:08:42Conahan wielded immense power. He
1:08:44decided that he was going to remove
1:08:45funding from the county budget for the
1:08:47county-run juvenile detention center.
1:08:49[music] That meant they were going to
1:08:50have to close it down. It was well known
1:08:52at that time that Ciavarella was a
1:08:54no-nonsense, zero-tolerance judge and
1:08:56that he had high placement rates.
1:08:59But even with [music] that, banks were
1:09:00still leery about funding this new
1:09:03juvenile detention center.
1:09:05So the next thing that Conahan did is
1:09:07that he signed a secret placement
1:09:09guarantee with Robert [music] Powell,
1:09:11which essentially assured that the
1:09:13county would send juveniles to this
1:09:15center.
1:09:17Conahan really was, I think, to a large
1:09:19extent, the ringleader here.
1:09:21And that Ciavarella kind of just
1:09:23followed along.
1:09:39>> Only in the case that
1:09:41he and I participated in a scheme to
1:09:44basically get a kickback gratuity.
1:09:47I don't care so much if you didn't just
1:09:48outright lie to me.
1:09:50Well, let's put it this way, every time
1:09:51we think it can't get any worse, it
1:09:53does.
1:09:54It does.
1:10:00I did something wrong in accepting the
1:10:02compensation while I was a judge.
1:10:05That's the issue.
1:10:07The government is saying to me, "Look,
1:10:08it was extrajudicial compensation.
1:10:09[music]
1:10:10You shouldn't have taken it. It was an
1:10:12ethical violation. It was corrupt.
1:10:15We're going to call it a gratuity.
1:10:17You're going to admit that [music] it's
1:10:17a gratuity, and therefore it's going to
1:10:19be a kickback." He told me when he
1:10:22entered his guilty plea that he would
1:10:23never
1:10:24agree to any facts that had in it a
1:10:26kickback or a bribe.
1:10:29Kids for cash, [music] anything. And he
1:10:31just And the first document they sent
1:10:32him is nothing but
1:10:34a scheme for a bribe or a kickback,
1:10:37[music]
1:10:38and he signs it.
1:10:40There's no factual truth to the scheme.
1:10:42There was no scheme.
1:10:45Just don't understand how he could tell
1:10:46me one thing and then do something
1:10:48completely different.
1:10:53If this is the least thing that I have
1:10:55to admit to doing,
1:10:56I I can live with all of that.
1:11:00I can justify that in my mind. [music]
1:11:04I think Dad is still somewhat delusional
1:11:08about Mike Conahan.
1:11:10He was kind of the puppet master, just
1:11:12you know, with the strings and and my
1:11:14dad being on the string, just dangling.
1:11:16I just I truly believe that there was
1:11:18something
1:11:19that Mike Conahan, that the government
1:11:21had on him.
1:11:23I I I I have to say he led a very
1:11:24different life than than my dad led.
1:11:27>> betrayed? Absolutely.
1:11:29Do I feel lied to? Definitely.
1:11:32Can I believe what Mike has done to me?
1:11:35No, I can't.
1:11:36But the reality is he has done it.
1:11:38And now I have to live with it.
1:11:46Judge, are you are you afraid these
1:11:48days?
1:11:50I try to deal with it one day at a time.
1:11:55One issue at a time.
1:11:57And I know in my heart
1:12:00that I didn't do
1:12:01what these people say I did.
1:12:03And because I know that I didn't do what
1:12:06people are saying I did, I can live with
1:12:09myself, and I can live with the result.
1:12:13I will risk going to jail for the rest
1:12:15of my life
1:12:16than ever admit that I did something
1:12:18that I didn't do.
1:12:22Time of trial,
1:12:23everyone's going to know that I never
1:12:25sent a kid away for a penny.
1:12:28Everyone will know that.
1:12:46Love you.
1:12:46>> Love you.
1:12:57Why [music] are we putting him on trial
1:12:59court? Well, but don't you believe He's
1:13:00so guilty. Yeah, but don't you believe
1:13:03he's got the right to
1:13:05present a defense? That's the
1:13:07cornerstone of the American way. Isn't
1:13:10what you're saying completely contrary
1:13:12to everything we believe in in America?
1:13:16No, he's guilty.
1:13:20High security for a defendant not in
1:13:22custody here in federal court in
1:13:24Scranton. This is former judge Mark
1:13:26Ciavarella and his attorneys and all
1:13:27their files
1:13:28>> [music]
1:13:29>> going into the federal courthouse in
1:13:30downtown Scranton.
1:13:32Ciavarella was indicted for his alleged
1:13:34role in the kids-for-cash scandal 2
1:13:35years ago. Jury selection starting here
1:13:38this morning.
1:13:43For the openings, I was thinking about
1:13:45playing off of the conflicting
1:13:46portraits, these these guys who just got
1:13:49dumb luck that this guy came and wanted
1:13:50to give them a million bucks. He didn't
1:13:52know it was And it they didn't know it
1:13:54was wrong. Right. They didn't know it
1:13:55was wrong.
1:13:56>> [laughter]
1:13:56>> You almost have to laugh about it. And
1:13:58that's that's your brain. Ciavarella's
1:14:00always maintained there was no kids for
1:14:01cash, and it wasn't about kids for cash
1:14:04cuz he wasn't on trial for that. He was
1:14:05on trial for the monetary transactions.
1:14:08And the government explained that they
1:14:09had legal and strategic reasons for not
1:14:12bringing that aspect in.
1:14:13They had solid evidence of the monetary
1:14:16transactions, and that was going to be
1:14:17enough to get a commission, and so
1:14:18that's why they opted to go that way.
1:14:21Was this kids for cash?
1:14:25Who Who can say other than Mark
1:14:27Ciavarella?
1:14:28But the public will never ever agree
1:14:30that it wasn't.
1:14:32I know a lot of the public is
1:14:33disappointed
1:14:35that Mark Ciavarella was not charged
1:14:37with kids for cash.
1:14:39And that would have allowed Mark
1:14:41Ciavarella to put on evidence that he
1:14:43wasn't selling kids for cash, that he
1:14:45did this before, or that some kids'
1:14:48families thought he did the right thing.
1:14:50It would have opened up a whole can of
1:14:51worms. So, it seems to me the US
1:14:53attorney made
1:14:55wise decisions and prosecuted him just
1:14:58for financial crimes. Because if Mark
1:15:01Ciavarella goes to jail for 12 or 15
1:15:03years, or however many years,
1:15:06what does it matter if it was for
1:15:07financial crimes or for something else?
1:15:11>> [music]
1:15:22[music]
1:15:27>> Every time I walked out of court,
1:15:30a reporter would ask me, "Do you have
1:15:31anything to say to the children?"
1:15:34Okay.
1:15:35Uh the children that you put away.
1:15:38And I never responded to that.
1:15:40I would say that I did what I thought
1:15:43was right for you.
1:15:45I'm sorry that I didn't set a better
1:15:47example
1:15:48as to how you should lead your life.
1:15:51But when I was making decisions that
1:15:53affected your life, I was doing what I
1:15:55thought was in your best interest.
1:16:01The public corruption trial in federal
1:16:04court in Scranton against former Luzerne
1:16:07County President Judge and Juvenile
1:16:10Judge Mark Ciavarella wrapping up today.
1:16:14They're still in there. They just got
1:16:15done reading all the charges. I don't
1:16:16think they're going to be in custody.
1:16:19Former Luzerne County Judge Mark
1:16:21Ciavarella, who's still in courtroom
1:16:22number one on the fourth floor, where
1:16:24he's been for the past 10 days as the
1:16:26trial proceeded, is now convicted.
1:16:29Former Judge Mark Ciavarella. It's kind
1:16:31of I think the calm before the storm
1:16:33right now. Mixed verdicts, but at the
1:16:35end of the day, guilty [music] of some
1:16:37very, very serious crimes. Tony! Tony!
1:16:49What do you feel, Al? Should we be
1:16:49enjoying?
1:16:51We're amazed.
1:16:53Um the jury rejected 95% of the
1:16:56government's case. They rejected most of
1:16:58the theories regarding kickbacks and
1:17:00bribes.
1:17:01Um the government really got hurt today
1:17:03in this entire case. And it stands for
1:17:07the proposition that what Mark
1:17:08Ciavarella said all along was true. He
1:17:11never took a kickback. He never took a
1:17:13bribe. This is not a cash-for-kids case,
1:17:16and we hope somebody starts getting the
1:17:18message.
1:17:20>> My kid's NOT HERE! HE'S DEAD! HE GAVE
1:17:22THEM HELL! HE RUINED MY [ __ ] LIFE! I
1:17:25WANT THEM TO GO TO HELL AND ROT THERE
1:17:27FOREVER!
1:17:29NO, YOU KNOW WHAT HE TOLD EVERYBODY IN
1:17:30COURT? They need to be held ACCOUNTABLE
1:17:32FOR THEIR ACTIONS. YOU NEED TO BE. Do
1:17:34you remember me? Do you remember me? DO
1:17:37YOU REMEMBER MY SON? AN ALL-STAR
1:17:39WRESTLER? He's gone! HE SHOT HIMSELF IN
1:17:41THE HEART! YOU SCUMBAG! YOU RUINED MY
1:17:44LIFE!
1:17:54MARK CIAVARELLA
1:17:56guilty
1:17:57on 12 of 39 federal felonies. Judgment
1:18:02day has arrived, and Mark Ciavarella is
1:18:05going to hell. Does he still get your
1:18:07pension? Try to look back.
1:18:10Ciavarella was found guilty of
1:18:12racketeering charges, mail fraud, one
1:18:14count of money laundering, fraud
1:18:16conspiracy, and filing false tax
1:18:18returns. The jury found [music] the
1:18:19ex-Luzerne County judge not guilty of 27
1:18:23charges, including wire fraud, receiving
1:18:26bribes, five counts of [music] money
1:18:27laundering, and extortion.
1:18:31I was a little disappointed that they
1:18:33didn't nail him on more charges, but I
1:18:34guess they got him on enough to
1:18:38put him
1:18:39put him away for 10, 15 years at least.
1:18:42I mean, he's 60 years old. You know, if
1:18:44he gets 15 years,
1:18:45he's 75. Unless he gets out for, you
1:18:47know,
1:18:48good time or stuff. Now, maybe he'll uh
1:18:51get to
1:18:52see what it feels like when you're
1:18:53separated from your family.
1:18:56And what about his mother?
1:19:00I know his son committed suicide or
1:19:02something.
1:19:03Shot himself in the heart.
1:19:05You got to get back to him.
1:19:22Jury
1:19:24>> January of 2010,
1:19:27Ed was released from the state [music]
1:19:29prison.
1:19:30And uh
1:19:31he came home and he was home for 5
1:19:33months he lasted.
1:20:04It was Memorial Day.
1:20:06Ed
1:20:07is up the mountain, up with his dad.
1:20:15>> [music]
1:20:17>> They were drinking all day.
1:20:20Their usual stuff.
1:20:23Of course, he's not supposed to be
1:20:24drinking. He's on parole.
1:20:27He was arguing with his dad.
1:20:33And I'm talking to him. I was trying to
1:20:35[music] get him to come here, you know,
1:20:36you have work tomorrow. Ed, just come
1:20:38and go to sleep. No, I'm just going to
1:20:40uh I want to be somewhere [music] closer
1:20:41to work.
1:20:50And he ended up going back to his um
1:20:52little cabin right by the water.
1:20:56Took a gun and shot himself in the
1:20:57heart.
1:21:18These are all hearts.
1:21:22I just talked to Ed and I I told him,
1:21:24you know, I was having a really hard
1:21:25time and I need a sign to know that he's
1:21:28with me and
1:21:30I was walking and my foot just hit it
1:21:32and you know, I just automatically bent
1:21:34down to pick it up and when I picked it
1:21:35up, I thought to myself,
1:21:37you know, wow, that looks like kind of
1:21:38like a crooked heart and then I turned
1:21:40it over and that's what it was.
1:21:47This one I
1:21:48found up at um nature park. And it's
1:21:51just a round balled rock and it has a
1:21:53heart. It looks like it was carved in
1:21:55there. I found that right in the water.
1:21:59No matter how many signs I get,
1:22:01I still
1:22:02miss his voice. I miss hearing the words
1:22:04Mom. I miss his smile.
1:22:08I miss talking to him. I miss, you know,
1:22:10everything. Vacations and holidays and
1:22:33It wasn't like that
1:22:34we lived this
1:22:36grandiose life.
1:22:38Most of the money that I received, I
1:22:40used to send my kids to school. Paid off
1:22:43some debt.
1:22:45And here I am, I'm 60 years old today
1:22:47and uh
1:22:48I have nothing.
1:22:49Living
1:22:51with my
1:22:52brother-in-law and sister-in-law.
1:22:58I've struggled with, you know, why did I
1:23:00take this money?
1:23:03I don't necessarily know if it was greed
1:23:04that that caused me to do it. I think it
1:23:07was more a sense of financial security.
1:23:10You know, all the things that you want
1:23:11to do for your children, now I had the
1:23:13opportunity to do because I was going to
1:23:15get this money.
1:23:16And uh
1:23:20destroyed my life because of it.
1:23:29I have
1:23:31a grandchild who is going to be two in
1:23:33July.
1:23:36I have a grandchild on the way.
1:23:40There's a good chance that
1:23:43those children really won't know me in a
1:23:45personal sense.
1:23:47That they will probably only know me
1:23:49through stories or photographs or
1:23:54I hope that they
1:23:56understand that
1:23:58I wasn't as bad
1:24:00as people say I was.
1:24:05I would hope that they
1:24:07understand that their grandfather
1:24:11screwed up big time.
1:24:14And
1:24:24couldn't be in their life because of it.
1:24:31Kind of tough.
1:24:36What they get to knows.
1:24:43>> [snorts]
1:24:47>> The grandfather is a scumbucket.
1:25:26Today I stand before you about to be
1:25:28sentenced to a term of imprisonment.
1:25:29[music]
1:25:31I would like to take this opportunity to
1:25:32apologize to the citizens of Luzerne
1:25:34County for violating the trust they
1:25:36placed in me.
1:25:39To all the juveniles who appeared before
1:25:40me, I would also apologize to them and
1:25:43ask that they forgive me for being a
1:25:44hypocrite.
1:25:46I had hoped that they would learn from
1:25:47my mistake
1:25:49and realize that everything we do in
1:25:50life has consequences.
1:25:53I've been publicly [music] convicted of
1:25:54a crime I never committed.
1:25:57There was no connection between the
1:25:58money I had received and the children I
1:26:00placed at PA Child Care.
1:26:05But yet today, I stand before you guilty
1:26:07[music] for being the kids-for-cash
1:26:08judge.
1:26:10Those three words made me the
1:26:12personification of evil.
1:26:14It caused a public [music] uproar,
1:26:15the likes of which this community has
1:26:17never seen.
1:26:21I have lost everything that I have ever
1:26:22worked for or cared about.
1:26:24But I will never lose my will
1:26:26to fight against individuals who say I
1:26:28took cash to put children in in
1:26:30placement when I never did.
1:26:33Your honor, I would only ask that the
1:26:35sentence be for the crimes I was found
1:26:36[music] guilty of committing and not for
1:26:38crime or crimes I did not commit.
1:26:41Thank you for giving me this opportunity
1:26:43to say what I had to say.
1:26:46Well, the an appeal will definitely be
1:26:48taken.
1:27:22>> [music]
1:27:31>> As a journalist, you should live, eat,
1:27:32and breathe to have a story like this.
1:27:35But it's distressing that it happened in
1:27:37your county to people that you knew.
1:27:40That they were Sandy Fonzo, I I was
1:27:43I was devastated listening to her. It
1:27:45was just heartbreaking.
1:27:49I look at that picture of her on page
1:27:53on it anything. This is This is the
1:27:55thing I'm going to remember most from
1:27:56this entire
1:27:572 years.
1:28:00>> [music]
1:28:05[music]
1:28:06>> The next day my phone wouldn't stop
1:28:08ringing. It was message after message. I
1:28:09mean, every day it went on, you know,
1:28:11for weeks.
1:28:13Different [music] advocacy groups were
1:28:15calling. A lot of people are reaching
1:28:17out to me and this happened to me and
1:28:19please help me and
1:28:20>> [music]
1:28:21>> and you know, I felt like overwhelmed
1:28:22like I you know, I'm not a lawyer. I'm
1:28:24not, you know, all I can do is [music]
1:28:27what I just did.
1:28:38No one listened because we were kids.
1:28:40Even though [music] sometimes when I was
1:28:42sitting in camp and I was like, you
1:28:44know, this is so unfair. I I hate
1:28:47authority. I hate judges and cops and
1:28:49everyone. I hate our legal system.
1:28:52Then I ended up being saved by the legal
1:28:55system.
1:28:57There are people who are still good and
1:28:59capable of being able to serve justice
1:29:02when appropriate. [music]
1:29:04Something so negative can be turned
1:29:06around.
1:29:17Almost 22, I'm still not in school.
1:29:20It's kind of embarrassing, I think.
1:29:23What I what I want to do in life is I
1:29:25wanted to go to music school. Berklee
1:29:27College of Music. Out of all the the
1:29:28music schools, it's like the most
1:29:30prestigious. It's like you have to be
1:29:31the best of the best to get in there. I
1:29:33want to be a musician. [music]
1:29:35When I was in North Central, they had
1:29:36this program that if you were 17, you
1:29:38can get a GED and you never have to go
1:29:40to high school again, which, you know,
1:29:41>> [music]
1:29:41>> as a 17-year-old, no school? Yeah.
1:29:44Uh I also regret getting my GED now
1:29:47because anyone else I knew was going to
1:29:49college, they stuck out high school,
1:29:51they have good grades, and now they have
1:29:52so many more options than I do.
1:30:07If I didn't go into homeschooling, I'd
1:30:08probably be a dropout.
1:30:11I'm still graduating from the same
1:30:12school. I'm still going into the school
1:30:14to graduate.
1:30:17I put in my hair. I started feeling a
1:30:19little nervous.
1:30:20I feel like I'm going to puke.
1:30:23I'm taking medication so I don't freak
1:30:25out and stuff like that. I keep getting
1:30:27like the cold sweats and stuff cuz
1:30:29there's going to be so many people there
1:30:31and I'm like really really really really
1:30:32nervous of them.
1:30:34I'm glad I made it to the end.
1:30:37I really didn't think I was going to
1:30:38graduate.
1:30:39My mom and my dad
1:30:41and my sister,
1:30:43they just kept giving me the confidence
1:30:45and everything. Amanda, you could do
1:30:46this. You could do this. And they
1:30:47wouldn't give up on me.
1:30:53I'm the only one that graduated out of
1:30:54my dad's kids.
1:30:59Amanda Laura
1:31:02>> [cheering]
1:31:04>> I was pretty nervous [music] on stage.
1:31:07And then,
1:31:08you know, it just it left me.
1:31:11The best feeling in the world. I never
1:31:13felt like this before. Like I feel like
1:31:15I want to cry of joy.
1:31:35Sometimes I feel like the choices that I
1:31:37made were
1:31:39they were wrong. I didn't do the best I
1:31:42could do and
1:31:43that makes it hard when I look at your
1:31:45picture and I know that you're in here.
1:31:48They charged me with using a credit
1:31:50card, which I didn't.
1:31:52It was
1:31:53my grandfather's and my step uh
1:31:55grandmother's.
1:31:57Total charges that I got was 31 counts
1:32:00access [music] device fraud
1:32:01for using credit card, obviously, and
1:32:04one count of receiving stolen property
1:32:06[music] for having it.
1:32:08I don't remember doing it. I was all
1:32:10messed up, drinking.
1:32:12>> [music]
1:32:12>> Wasn't just drinking, either. I was
1:32:13smoking pot and, you know, taking pills.
1:32:17Everything was hard. I needed to find a
1:32:20job. I was 18.
1:32:23And while I was in placement, they
1:32:24really never like they don't
1:32:26they don't teach you anything like that,
1:32:28like what to do
1:32:31in the real world.
1:32:33I sure could use help, I guess.
1:32:38It's a good thing maybe I'm here, I
1:32:39don't know.

About this transcript

This page contains the full transcript of Kids for Cash (2013) | English Full Movie | Documentary by CinemaGalaxy, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 14,180 words across 2,343 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

What you can do with it

Use the transcript to take notes, quote the speaker, build a study guide, generate a summary with ChatGPT or Claude via the YouTube Summary tool, or export it as a timed subtitle file with YouTube to SRT. You can also re-open it in the transcriber to translate the transcript into 100+ languages.

Free YouTube transcript tool

YouTube2Text is a free YouTube transcript generator — no signup, no daily limit. Paste any YouTube link and get the full transcript instantly, with timestamps, click-to-jump, translation to 100+ languages, AI prompts for ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, and exports to TXT, SRT, VTT, or Markdown.