SCRANTON, Pa., Dec. 2 (UPI) -- A state judge in northeastern Pennsylvania has been charged with taking a payoff from a lawyer who appeared before him, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
Common Pleas Judge Michael T. O'Toole of Wilkes-Barre is the third judge and 20th person to face criminal charges in a corruption probe in Luzerne County, U.S. Attorney Dennis Pfannenschmidt said. The most notorious case involved two judges who allegedly sentenced teenagers to a detention facility that was paying them.
O'Toole has agreed to plead guilty to honest services fraud and to failure to pay federal income taxes on $30,000 he received from the lawyer in 2006, The Scranton Times-Tribune reported. He has announced he would be on vacation in the early part of December.
The judge allegedly ruled in favor of the lawyer, who was not named, in an insurance arbitration case, the newspaper said.
