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In 2011 FBI tape from case-fixing probe, yet another judge's name is mentioned

Two Philadelphia judges secretly taped by the FBI in a case-fixing investigation discussed reaching out to a third judge to influence a drug case, according to a recording made public during a judicial hearing Thursday.

Adam Beloff was not mentioned as a probe target.
Adam Beloff was not mentioned as a probe target.Read more

Two Philadelphia judges secretly taped by the FBI in a case-fixing investigation discussed reaching out to a third judge to influence a drug case, according to a recording made public during a judicial hearing Thursday.

On the 2011 tape, a judge now facing ethics charges asked a now-imprisoned ex-judge whether Common Pleas Court Judge Adam Beloff would agree to talk out of court about the pending case.

"He should be fine" about having such a conversation, said Municipal Court Judge Joseph C. Waters.

Lawyers with the state ethics board for judges played the tape in a civil case against suspended Common Pleas Court Judge Angeles Roca. Beloff, who is not known to have been a federal target, committed suicide in 2012.

It is a violation of the state code of ethics for outside judges to meddle in civil or criminal cases, but four city judges have been accused of doing exactly that: Roca, Waters, Municipal Court Judge Dawn A. Segal, and former Municipal Court Judge Joseph J. O'Neill.

Evidence from FBI wiretaps has been used against all of them.

The ethics board has charged Roca with conspiring with Waters - now in a federal prison in Kentucky - and Segal to fix a city tax case against Roca's grown son. Segal issued a ruling that helped the son.

O'Neill was sentenced Wednesday in federal court to six months' house arrest and probation.

At Thursday's hearing in a Center City courtroom, Roca acknowledged her wrongdoing.

"I've learned a huge lesson. I was wrong. And I am sorry. I can't apologize enough," she told the judicial panel.

"He was my son. You want to do for your son. You want to protect your children."

If found guilty of violating ethics rules by the Court of Judicial Discipline, Roca could lose her judgeship. She has been suspended without pay pending the outcome of the disciplinary hearing.

Segal also is suspended without pay pending a final ruling in her case. The Court of Judicial Discipline already has found that she violated ethics rules, but she has asked for a reconsideration.

Beloff hanged himself Dec. 1, 2012, at age 48. His name had not been publicly associated with the FBI investigation, and no testimony was presented Thursday to indicate that he was a federal target.

But the recorded conversations between Roca and Waters gave a glimpse of how casually the two chatted about participating in case-fixing.

Roca said she spoke with Waters about intervening in the drug case because it involved the son of a court staffer and it "tugged at my heartstrings."

She told the members of the judicial tribunal that although Waters had green-lighted a contact with Beloff, she never actually called him. She said she realized that "it would be wrong" to contact Beloff.

Attorney Samuel Stretton, who represented Roca at Thursday's hearing, said that although Roca acknowledged the improper contact with Waters about intervening in her son's case, she should only be suspended from the bench, rather than removed.

Stretton also had kind words for Beloff, whom he knew from his 2009 campaign.

"He never would have fixed anything," Stretton said.

Beloff was raised in Ventnor, N.J., and was a graduate of Atlantic City High School and George Washington University. After receiving a law degree from Cooley Law School in Lansing, Mich., he became a judicial assistant in Municipal Court and later practiced family law.

In 2009, he won as a Democratic candidate for Common Pleas Court without the endorsement of the party.

He was a distant relative of Leland Beloff, the former city councilman convicted in 1987 of trying to shake down developer Willard G. Rouse III.

After Adam Beloff's suicide, Waters, who had been a friend since childhood, praised his work as a judge, saying it was a job Beloff had wanted all his life.

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Transcript: Sept. 22, 2011 Recorded Call Roca toWaters

Transcript: Common Please Court Judge Angelas Roca on tape

Source: Judicial Conduct Board of Pennsylvania

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