A federal jury has found a former Pennsylvania judge guilty in a so-called “kids-for-cash” scheme, in which he took money in exchange for sending juvenile offenders to for-profit detention centers. Former Luzerne County Judge Mark Ciavarella, Jr., was accused of taking $2.8 million in bribes and kickbacks for putting juveniles into detention centers owned by friends. The former judge faces a maximum sentence of 157 years in prison. He is free on bail. On Friday, a woman confronted the judge outside the courtroom and blamed him for her son’s suicide.

Sandy Fonzo: “My kid’s not here! He’s dead, because of him! He ruined my [bleep] life!”

The woman, Sandy Fonzo, said her son Edward Kenzakoski was never the same after Judge Ciavarella sentenced him for a first-time offense of possession of drug paraphernalia. In 2009, Pennsylvania Supreme Court threw out thousands of juvenile convictions handed down by Ciavarella.