Builder of 'Kids for Cash' Jails Headed to Jail Himself

How long will you spend in prison for paying a judge to send thousands of kids to juvenile detention? In developer Robert Mericle's case, the answer is one year. Mericle and a lawyer paid more than $2 million in "finder's fees" to a pair of judges to send inmates to two jails Mericle built, in the infamous "Kids for Cash" scandal. But paying those fees wasn't technically illegal for Mericle; his crime was lying about them to investigators, the Wilkes Barre Times-Leader explains.

Prosecutors had suggested Mericle spend only six months in jail, noting that he'd eventually cooperated with the government and testified against the corrupt judges—who got far longer sentences. A number of character witnesses also spoke up for Mericle, WNEP reports, and Mericle's lawyer cited his record of philanthropy. But Judge Edwin Kosik said Mericle was trafficking on his contributions to society, and deserved a harsh sentence. "This false information was nothing but corruption," he said. (More Robert Mericle stories.)