SCRANTON — A probation official was accused Friday of tampering with juvenile court records, becoming the fourth figure to be charged in a widening corruption scandal at a northeastern Pennsylvania courthouse.

The FBI charged Sandra Brulo, 56, with obstruction of justice. Prosecutors believe she tampered with court records to evade liability in a civil suit filed on behalf of hundreds of children who passed through the Luzerne County juvenile court system, according to her attorney, Joseph Sklarosky Sr.

Brulo's co-defendants in the civil suit are Luzerne County Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan, who pleaded guilty last week to federal fraud charges after prosecutors accused them of taking $2.6 million in kickbacks to send juvenile offenders to private detention centers. The judges face more than seven years in prison.

Those detention centers include Western PA Child Care, which is in Allegheny Township, Butler County, and one in Luzerne County.

The lawsuit, filed last week, claims that as chief juvenile probation officer, Brulo "succumbed to pressure" from Ciavarella to ensure that youths were put in detention facilities.

Brulo, now deputy director of forensic programs at the probation department, was released on her own recognizance. She was suspended without pay Friday by Luzerne County President Judge Chester Muroski.

Brulo didn't comment as she left the courthouse.

On Tuesday, another figure in the ongoing corruption probe, Luzerne County Court Administrator William Sharkey Sr., pleaded guilty to embezzlement for stealing more than $70,000 in seized gambling proceeds.