 On April 20, 1985, a CT-39 Sabreliner crashed while attempting to land at the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport; this resulted in the deaths of all five people on board (including General Jerome F. O'Malley, the commander of Tactical Air Command).The “kids for cash” scandal unfolded in 2008 over judicial kickbacks at the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas in Wilkes-Barre.Two judges, President Judge Mark Ciavarella and Senior Judge Michael Conahan, were convicted of accepting money from Robert Mericle, builder of two private, for-profit youth centers for the detention of juveniles, in return for contracting with the facilities and imposing harsh adjudications on juveniles brought before their courts to increase the number of residents in the centers.