Kids-for-cash accomplice wants part of pension returned
Published: October 24, 2011
WILKES-BARRE - Sandra M. Brulo,
A former Luzerne County official on probation for altering a juvenile court file connected to the kids-for-cash scandal, wants $96,359.21 in pension contributions returned.
The county retirement board, which meets today, legally has to return her pension contributions, but the refund will be without interest because of her criminal record, officials said. Commissioner Stephen A. Urban said Brulo will lose more than $50,000 in interest.
After Brulo's arrest in February 2009, she was suspended without pay from her $78,159-a-year job as deputy director of forensic services for juvenile probation. She was able to resign without being fired, and officials approved a final payment of almost $12,000 for unused sick, personal and vacation time. But the retirement board in May 2009 rejected her request for a county pension of $1,733.11 a month.
Last June, a federal judge placed Brulo on probation for two years. Brulo pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice for altering a court record to shield herself from liability in civil rights actions filed by hundreds of former juvenile defendants who claim they were wrongly imprisoned in two judges' scheme to generate kickbacks from a for-profit detention center.
Prosecutors said Brulo altered a record after she was named as a defendant in a class-action civil-rights suit filed by former juvenile defendants who claim they were illegally imprisoned by former judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. Brulo altered the record to indicate she had recommended probation for a juvenile when she had actually recommended detention in that case.
The state Supreme Court subsequently expunged the records of thousands of juveniles after finding that Ciavarella had taken $2.8 million from the builder and co-owner of a for-profit detention center, failed to ensure juveniles' right to counsel and pressured probation officials to recommend detention for juveniles.
Ciavarella was found guilty in February of racketeering and conspiracy in federal court and is serving a prison sentence of 28 years. His co-defendant, former judge Michael T. Conahan, pleaded guilty and is serving 17½ years.
A former Luzerne County official on probation for altering a juvenile court file connected to the kids-for-cash scandal, wants $96,359.21 in pension contributions returned.
The county retirement board, which meets today, legally has to return her pension contributions, but the refund will be without interest because of her criminal record, officials said. Commissioner Stephen A. Urban said Brulo will lose more than $50,000 in interest.
After Brulo's arrest in February 2009, she was suspended without pay from her $78,159-a-year job as deputy director of forensic services for juvenile probation. She was able to resign without being fired, and officials approved a final payment of almost $12,000 for unused sick, personal and vacation time. But the retirement board in May 2009 rejected her request for a county pension of $1,733.11 a month.
Last June, a federal judge placed Brulo on probation for two years. Brulo pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice for altering a court record to shield herself from liability in civil rights actions filed by hundreds of former juvenile defendants who claim they were wrongly imprisoned in two judges' scheme to generate kickbacks from a for-profit detention center.
Prosecutors said Brulo altered a record after she was named as a defendant in a class-action civil-rights suit filed by former juvenile defendants who claim they were illegally imprisoned by former judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. Brulo altered the record to indicate she had recommended probation for a juvenile when she had actually recommended detention in that case.
The state Supreme Court subsequently expunged the records of thousands of juveniles after finding that Ciavarella had taken $2.8 million from the builder and co-owner of a for-profit detention center, failed to ensure juveniles' right to counsel and pressured probation officials to recommend detention for juveniles.
Ciavarella was found guilty in February of racketeering and conspiracy in federal court and is serving a prison sentence of 28 years. His co-defendant, former judge Michael T. Conahan, pleaded guilty and is serving 17½ years.
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