Given the scandalous details surrounding the scheme by two Luzerne County judges to take kickbacks for placing children in juvenile detention centers, including one in Butler County, the full story of how those detention centers operated must be known. For that reason, the request by state Sen. Jane Orie, R-40th, to have the state Auditor General's Office conduct a probe of the juvenile centers is appropriate.

Orie's request for the office of Auditor General Jack Wagner to perform a thorough examination of the operation of the two juvenile detention centers can be seen as a crucial part of getting the full story and learning the full scope of the scandal.

It is quite possible that more people were involved in the scandal than those who already have pleaded guilty, including the two Luzerne County judges and an attorney and former co-owner of both detention centers.

It is possible that others knowingly participated in a scheme that allegedly sent $2.6 million to the two judges in exchange for their sentencing the juveniles to incarceration in PA Child Care in Luzerne County and Western PA Child Care in northern Butler County.

Juveniles sentenced in Butler County courts were held at Western PA Child Care from 2005 to 2008. During that time, Butler County paid Western PA Child Care more than $900,000.

Early reporting on the scandal revealed that hundreds of young people were sentenced to time in the detention centers often without legal representation and for periods of time disproportionate to their alleged crimes. One example cited is a 17-year-old who spent seven months in three different juvenile detention facilities for stealing a $4 jar of nutmeg.

In addition to the two former judges and former detention center co-owner and attorney, Robert Powell, other Luzerne County officials reportedly have been implicated in the case.

In pressing for an audit by Wag-ner's office, Orie noted that an earlier, but limited, audit by the state Department of Public Welfare's Bureau of Financial Operations found problems worth further investigation, including $1.26 million in non-allowable costs, such as golf outings, that presumably were passed on to counties paying to house juveniles in the facilities.

The Welfare Department's limited review, which covered only July 2007 through June 2008, also found $1 million paid in consulting fees.

In last year's federal corruption trial of former state Sen. Vincent Fumo, D-Philadelphia, it was learned that Fumo had arranged for state consulting contracts that resulted in little or no work being done. For that reason, consulting fees warrant follow-up investigations.

Disgraced former Judges Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. and Michael T. Conahan, as well as Powell, are all listed as witnesses in the federal corruption case. Powell's former partner, Gregory Zappala, who had been based in Cranberry Township, has not been charged with any wrongdoing in the case.

According to a Pittsburgh newspaper's report, three detention centers owned by Zappala, including those in Luzerne and Butler counties as well as Mid-Atlantic Youth Services, are defendants in the lawsuits.

Zappala bought out Powell's interests in the detention centers soon after it was learned the FBI was investigating the scheme involving the judges and the detention centers.

The discovery phase of the case, in addition to depositions of the current defendants, could produce information revealing that more people were involved in different aspects of the corruption case. Beyond that, a thorough forensic audit of the operations of the detention centers could bring out other avenues for investigation.

And considering what's already known about this brazen kickback scheme, it would not be surprising to learn that what's known now is not the total picture. The public has a right to know the full extent of the corruption surrounding these disgraced judges and the associated detention centers, including the one in Butler County.