"Man dug up body to soothe widow, police say" by Associated Press | July 23, 2010
PHILADELPHIA — A mystery behind the macabre case of the elderly Pennsylvania woman who kept her beloved, and deceased, sister and husband at home has been partly solved with the filing of misdemeanor charges this week.
Neighbor James Flanagan, 62, admits he dug up the twin sister in October and moved her body inside Jean Stevens’s home in northeastern Pennsylvania, state police said. The body had been buried on Stevens’s rural property.
Flanagan faces misdemeanor charges of abuse of a corpse and has been issued a summons. He did not return a message left at his house yesterday, and no court dates have been set.
Jean Stevens, 91, has not been charged with any crimes for keeping the embalmed corpses in her ramshackle home in Wyalusing. Authorities tipped to the situation discovered the bodies in June. By then, her husband, James, had been dead for more than a decade.
Although police know who dug up the husband’s body from a local cemetery, they say the statute of limitations precludes them from filing charges.
Jean Stevens said she and her twin sister, who married brothers, shared severe claustrophobia. The thought of her loved ones spending eternity in a casket in the ground horrifies her.
“I think when you put them in the [ground], that’s goodbye, goodbye,’’ Stevens said earlier this year. Instead, she lovingly tended to the bodies, talking to her husband and spritzing her sister with a favorite perfume.--more--"
I truly feel pity for the woman.
Not so much for this guy:
"Would-be Romeo judge suspended" by Associated Press | July 21, 2010
HARRISBURG, Pa. — A district judge described by his lawyer as “socially inept and challenged with women’’ was suspended without pay yesterday for two months for behavior that included calling female lawyers repeatedly and making uninvited visits to their homes or offices.
The Court of Judicial Discipline also placed North East District Judge Gerard Alonge on probation until his current term expires at the end of next year and directed him to continue getting mental health treatment.
Alonge, 51, apologized for behavior that the court described as “bizarre and weird’’ and “conduct akin to stalking.’’
“Never did I act or speak with malice, nor did I ever seek to cause distress to the women,’’ Alonge said during a court hearing that included videotaped testimony by lawyers who praised his work as a judge.
After the decision, his lawyer said he was satisfied with the result.
Philip Friedman described his client as “socially inept and challenged with women,’’ a harmless would-be Romeo who hasn’t dated in years.
Am I supposed to be feeling sorry for the sickie?
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No sympathy for this scum:
"Judge pleads guilty in kickback scheme" by Associated Press | July 24, 2010
PHILADELPHIA — A former judge in northeastern Pennsylvania pleaded guilty yesterday to a racketeering conspiracy charge for his role in a kickback scheme that put juvenile defendants, many without lawyers, behind bars for sometimes minor offenses.
Michael Conahan, 58, faces up to 20 years in prison after his plea in Scranton federal court. No sentencing date was set.
Court documents do not indicate if Conahan will testify against the other former Luzerne County judge charged in the case, Mark Ciavarella Jr. Conahan’s lawyer, Philip Gelso, declined to comment yesterday.
Ciavarella has maintained his innocence and will go to trial.
Prosecutors accuse the pair of taking $2.8 million in kickbacks from two private detention facilities. Conahan, as president judge, shut down a county-owned juvenile center while Ciavarella, the juvenile court judge, filled beds at the for-profit facilities, they charged.
The indictment was part of a federal corruption investigation in Luzerne County that has so far ensnared more than two dozen people, including a school superintendent and a court administrator.
Ciavarella, 60, shackled children, denied them legal counsel, and removed them from their ings, juvenile advocates said.
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Also see: Incarcerating Children is Big Business
