SCRANTON — Two county judges in northeastern Pennsylvania were charged Monday with public corruption in connection with a $2.6 million scheme to place juvenile offenders into facilities in which the judges had a financial interest.

Luzerne County President Judge Mark Ciavarella, 58, and Senior Judge Michael Conahan, 56, have agreed to plead guilty to honest services fraud and tax fraud following a nearly two-year probe by the FBI and Internal Revenue Service, federal officials announced.

The judges' plea agreements call for sentences of more than seven years in federal prison.

"They sold their oaths of offices to the highest bidders," Deron Roberts, chief of the FBI's Scranton office, said at a news conference Monday.

Ciavarella and Conahan took kickbacks in exchange for guaranteeing the placement of juvenile offenders into facilities operated by PA Child Care and Western PA Child Care, according to court documents.

In some cases, Ciavarella ordered children into detention even when juvenile probation officers did not recommend it, documents state.

Both judges have agreed to step down from the bench.