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Lunch Bucket Joe’s favorable treatment for a hometown judge was one of a number of commutations said to have brought “pain” to local communities.
A modern-day record for clemency also brought considerable grief as President Joe Biden commuted nearly 1,500 sentences and pardoned 39 individuals Friday. Among the drug smugglers and “notorious fraudsters” garnered relief by the lame duck leader was a Pennsylvania judge incarcerated over a deadly kids-for-cash scandal and a former Illinois comptroller who’d taken her city for 11 figures.
“I am shocked and I am hurt,” said Sandy Fonzo to The Citizen’s Voice, a mother whose son had committed suicide after being placed in juvenile detention because of the actions of former Luzerne County Judge Michael Conahan and former Judge Mark Ciavarella Jr.
Conahan had been included in Biden’s list of commutations after having been sentenced to nearly 18 years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of racketeering and conspiracy for his scheme dating back to 2002 where the county-run juvenile detention center had been shuttered to the benefit of for-profit detention.
He had shared $2.8 million in illegal payments from the builder and co-owner of two such facilities where children as young as eight years old were being detained for charges like jaywalking and truancy.
The scandal had led to Pennsylvania’s supreme court dismissing 4,000 juvenile convictions of over 2,300 minors, many of whom had gone to suffer from drug overdoses and suicide, prosecutors had argued during the trial.
“Conahan’s actions destroyed families, including mine, and my son’s death is a tragic reminder of the consequence of his abuse of power. This pardon feels like an injustice for all of us who still suffer. Right now I am processing and doing the best I can to cope with the pain that this has brought back,” added Fonzo who’d confronted Ciaveralla outside federal court after her son had committed suicide.
During a press conference Friday, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) added his voice to concern about Biden’s decision on Conahan, who had already benefited from release from prison in 2020 as COVID protocols allowed for home confinement.
“I do feel strongly that President Biden got it absolutely wrong and created a lot of pain here in Northeastern Pennsylvania,” said the governor. “This was not only a black eye on the community, the kids-for-cash scandal, but it also affected families in really deep and profound and sad ways. Some children took their lives because of this. Families were torn apart. There was all kinds of mental health issues and anguish that came as a result of these corrupt judges deciding they wanted to make a buck off a kid’s back.”
Meanwhile, the president had also seen fit to commute the sentence of former Dixon, Illinois comptroller Rita Crundwell who’d been sentenced to nearly 20 years in prison after a 2013 conviction for embezzling the city of out over $53 million over the span of two decades.
“The City of Dixon is shocked and outraged with the announcement that President Biden had given Rita Crundwell clemency for the largest municipal embezzlement in the history of our country,” a statement from Dixon City Manager Danny Langloss said after the list was released. “This is a complete travesty of justice and a slap in the face for our entire community.”
According to CBS News, Crundwell would have remained in prison at least until Oct. 2028 were it not for Biden’s decision, after she had used the funds to support her lavish lifestyle and horse breeding business.
“The message seems to be crime pays,” said former Dixon Mayor Li Arellano (R) who went on to get elected to the Illinois state Senate in November. “Supposedly, these are labeled as nonviolent criminals. If you rob a town of $54 million, and then you think there’s less violence that it doesn’t impact public safety, you’re wrong. There absolutely is more crime when you steal 10 to 20% of a city’s budget, absolutely.”
“While today’s news is unimaginable,” added Langloss, “the City of Dixon is in an incredible place today. We will continue to focus on the future and work to capitalize on the momentum we have created.”
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn’t researching current events and their impacts, you’ll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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