Lakewood police officer Skeeter Timothy Manos fended off garnishments of his city wages while allegedly skimming charitable donations intended for the families of four slain colleagues.
Charges filed Wednesday by federal prosecutors accuse Manos, 34, of stealing more than $150,000 in charitable contributions between January 2010 and February 2011.
The donated money was meant for the families of Sgt. Mark Renninger and officers Tina Griswold, Ronald Owens and Greg Richards – all fatally shot Nov. 29, 2009, by gunman Maurice Clemmons.
Prosecutors allege Manos, then the treasurer of Lakewood’s police union, siphoned contributions into a secret account he’d opened without the knowledge of union leaders.
Donations were pouring in at the time – a flood of $3.2 million over three months, records state. Manos handled collection and deposits and diverted a stream into the secret account.
He fattened the balance (checks only). He got an ATM card. For the next year, the card worked overtime: Federal investigators tracked more than 120 transactions worth almost $80,000.
Receipts say some of the money paid for suburban toys: appliances, snowboarding gear and truck accessories. A bigger chunk went to gambling: 50 withdrawals, typically $500 a pop, from three cash machines at casinos in Pierce and Thurston counties.
Manos was arraigned Wednesday at U.S. District Court in Tacoma, and released on his own recognizance, pending further court action. If convicted on the charges – 10 counts of wire fraud – he could face up to 20 years in prison.
As a police officer, Manos, a DuPont resident, earned an annual salary of $89,710 in 2010, according to public records. He’s married with three children. His wife works.
Prosecutors didn’t charge her with any crimes.
Court records show Manos, hired by the department in 2004, had a history of debt problems. A hassle from 2005 involved an unpaid auto loan of more than $20,000, satisfied in full by Manos in 2006.
Between February 2010 and July 2011, three writs of garnishment against Manos’ city wages sought more than $5,500 in unpaid bills.
Records show Manos paid all the bills in full. Most of the debt – about $4,300 – was satisfied during the period when he allegedly was siphoning the charitable donations.
In a five-week period between February and March 2010, Manos spent at least $13,000, not counting casino visits, records say. The money, close to three times his monthly take-home pay of $4,874, paid for personal items at Costco and Home Depot, and trips to casinos.
Manos’ expenses include paying $2,385 to a collection agency for an unspecified debt. The judgment, paid in March 2010, had led to a garnishment of Manos’ city wages.
Another garnishment, for $1,966 in medical bills, followed later in the year.
Police Chief Bret Farrar said last week that he didn’t know about the garnishments at the time. The paperwork went through the city’s finance department, and he was given no notice of it.
Had he known, Farrar said, he might have spoken to Manos.
Credit checks are a standard procedure in the hiring process for police officers. The debts Manos incurred emerged after he was hired.
Court records state union leaders grew concerned about Manos’ handling of donations in 2010, when a donor from Portland complained he hadn’t received a receipt for a $5,000 donation that later turned up in the secret account.
Lakewood officer Jeremy Vahle, a union vice president, uncovered the secret account last month, after earlier inquiries regarding donations went unanswered, according to court records.
Vahle eventually obtained the union’s bank records on his own, saw the hidden account and turned the information over to his superiors at the Police Department.
How did Manos, with his history of debt, reach a position in the union that involved administration of money?
The News Tribune asked Sgt. John Unfred, who works in the department’s professional standards section and also serves as treasurer of the fallen officer’s charity. He did not respond to the emailed question. The union has referred media inquiries to federal investigators.
At the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department, deputies who incur garnishments and repeated debt problems can find themselves chatting with the boss.
“When debt problems come to our attention, we make a proactive attempt to contact the employee to find out the source of the problem and assist the employee in resolving the matter,” said Deputy Prosecutor Craig Adams, who serves as Sheriff Paul Pastor’s legal adviser.
Sean Robinson: 253-597-8486
sean.robinson@thenewstribune.com
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