Mark Ciavarella
| Mark Ciavarella | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
Mark Arthur Ciavarella, Jr. March 3, 1950 Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania |
| Alma mater |
King's College Duquesne Law School |
| Occupation | Former President Judge |
| Years active | 1996-2009 |
| Known for | Kids for cash scandal |
| Successor | Chester B. Muroski |
| Criminal charge | Racketeering, fraud, money laundering, extortion, bribery, and federal tax violations |
| Criminal penalty | 28 years in prison |
| Criminal status | Federal inmate #15008-067 Federal Correctional Institution, Ashland |
| Spouse(s) | Cindy Baer (div. 2013) |
Mark Arthur Ciavarella, Jr. (born March 3, 1950) is a convicted felon and former President Judge of the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania who was involved, along with fellow judge Michael Conahan, in the "Kids for cash" scandal in 2008.
In August 2011, Ciavarella was sentenced to 28 years in federal prison for his involvement in the Kids for Cash scandal.
Ciavarella is a lifelong resident of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, having been raised in the East End section of the city and attending St. Mary's High School. After graduating from the local King's College he attended Duquesne University School of Law, receiving his law degree in 1975. Ciavarella entered private legal practice, becoming a partner in the firm of Lowery, Ciavarella and Rogers. From 1976 to 1978 he was city solicitor and then from 1978 until 1995 he served as solicitor for the city zoning board. In 1995 he ran for judge in Luzerne County on the Democratic ticket and was elected to a ten-year term. He was re-elected to a second ten-year term in 2005. Ciavarella was also active in several civic and Catholic organizations. He was married to the former Cindy Baer and the couple have three children. They separated on September 15, 2010, and on May 2013 she filed for divorce.
Ciavarella pleaded guilty on February 13, 2009, pursuant to a plea agreement, to federal charges of honest services fraud, wire fraud and tax evasion in connection with receiving $2.6 million in kickbacks from Robert Powell and Robert Mericle, the co-owner and builder respectively, of two private, for-profit juvenile facilities. In exchange for these kickbacks, Ciavarella sentenced children to extended stays in juvenile detention for offenses as minimal as mocking a principal on Myspace, trespassing in a vacant building, and shoplifting DVDs from Wal-mart. More specifically, the crimes charged were: conspiracy to deprive the public of the "intangible right of honest services", or corruption, and conspiracy to defraud the United States by failing to report income to the Internal Revenue Service. Ciavarella tendered his resignation to Governor Ed Rendell on January 23, 2009, prior to official publication of the charges.
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