Guilty: Manuel admits taking $60,000 from developer, faces 10 years, $250,000 fine

Manuel admits taking $60,000 from developer, faces 10 years, $250,000 fine

PETER GUINTA
peter.guinta@staugustine.com
Publication Date: 08/01/09

JACKSONVILLE -- Former St. Johns County Commission Chairman Tom Manuel pleaded guilty Friday morning to one count of bribery, and he now faces up to 10 years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines, although the prosecution recommended he be given a sentence at the low end of the sentencing range.

In U.S. Magistrate Judge Howard T. Snyder's courtroom, Manuel and his lead attorney, Bill Sheppard of Sheppard, White, Thomas & Kachergus, Jacksonville, initialed and signed a 26-page plea deal that listed his specific crimes.

Manuel agreed to a deal offered by Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Hackenberry Savell.

She wanted him to enter a guilty plea on one count of bribery, for accepting $10,000, in return for her office dropping a second bribery count against him from his taped acceptance of $50,000.

After any prison time served, Manuel must also serve three years of supervised probation.

One revelation at the hearing was an admission by Manuel that, as he heard himself speak on the FBI's tapes, he thought his voice seemed unusually excited.

"I am seeing a psychiatrist," he told Snyder. "Her preliminary diagnosis is bipolar disorder. And I have realized that my behavior in the past had been manic. I am on medication now that seems to have been very effective in balancing my moods."

Manuel, recipient of a heart transplant some years ago, said he takes 21 different medications a day for cholesterol, high blood pressure, stomach ailments, infection suppression, maintaining heart rhythm and depression.

"I have a large pill container. In the past, sometimes my medications got out of whack," he said.

One by one, Snyder went through the plea deal provisions with him.

"You are waiving your legal right to challenge (the sentence) for ineffective assistance of counsel. You will lose the right to cross-examine witnesses or appeal your sentence on any grounds," Snyder said. "There will be no further trial of any kind."

Manuel agreed to all of it.

In the past, he has stated that the criminal charges against him were "a political hatchet job" conceived by his enemies and developers because he wanted to slow growth in St. Johns County.

The crime

Savell read aloud the factual basis for bribery charges against Manuel.

In November 2006, court documents said, Manuel, newly elected to the St. Johns County Commission, met with St. Augustine attorney George McClure and client Bruce Robbins of the Falcone Group LLC, to discuss Falcone's huge Twin Creeks project, planned since 2004.

The commission had earlier approved some mitigation requirements for Twin Creeks.

But at their meeting, "Manuel pressured the Falcone representative to make charitable contributions to organizations such as the Council on Aging, which comprised a large constituency for Manuel, at the same time Manuel knew that Falcone would have issues coming before the County Commission in the future," the document said.

In 2007, concerned about Manuel's requests, McClure and Robbins called the FBI.

That began the FBI's recording of Manuel's business conversations over an 18-month period.

Between April 2007 and March 2008, Manuel continued to tell Falcone to make contributions to the Council on Aging and Manuel's Committee of Continuing Excellence, which he once described as essentially a legal slush fund that collects money to buy ads, fliers and other material that support causes or candidates.

On one tape, the government's document said, Manuel told a Falcone representative that "if Falcone did not (contribute), Falcone's future business before the County Commission would be in jeopardy."

Part of Twin Creeks included the area surrounding the County Road 210 and Interstate 95 intersection.

"Because traffic congestion was increasing in that area, county staff and one commissioner asked McClure and Robbins to accelerate the work being done there. Falcone engineers were told what design would be necessary to improve conditions there. That work would cost $11 million."

Falcone bought more land there as wetland mitigation.

The county wanted to buy that property, which the commission would have to approve.

On March 21, 2008, Robbins recorded a meeting with Manuel in which the commissioner again sought contributions and where they discussed intersection improvements coming before the commission.

On April 10, 2008, Manuel told Robbins that "he would be locked out of future business if he didn't make the contributions as directed. At that time, Manuel accepted $10,000 in cash to support an upcoming commission vote to purchase property at C.R. 210 and I-95.

Falcone told him there could be $50,000 more to come.

On April 29, 2008, the commission voted to purchase the property from Falcone for $2 million.

"MNuel was at that meeting and spoke positively about the project," the documents said.

On June 5, 2008, at another recorded meeting, Manuel was taped accepting $50,000 in cash at a Jacksonville Beach restaurant "as further reward for the successful sale of the property."

Manuel, in his own defense, later said the property sale required five commission votes and he was only one of the five.

Upon leaving the restaurant, he was arrested and an envelope containing $50,000 was seized.

To the FBI agents who arrested him, Manuel said he "knew what he was doing was wrong and illegal."

He returned all but $3,400 of the $10,000 payment he accepted April 10.

Sentencing

Snyder said he will recommend his guilty plea to U.S. District Judge Marcia Morales Howard, who is not bound to accept it. She has the power to throw it out for any reason and move Manuel's case to a jury trial next month, as had been planned before this hearing.

A sentencing hearing has not yet been set.

The plea deal contains a provision that recommends Manuel's sentence be "on the low end of the applicable guideline."

Snyder said his recommendations and the report from the Sentencing Commission are only advisory.

"The court will look at (the recommendations) but is not to be bound by them," he said.

Manuel was also required to fully cooperate with the government.

After the narrative of his crimes were read by Savell, Snyder asked Manuel, "Is that what you did?"

Manuel paused a beat and softly said, "Yes, sir."

Snyder's last question to Manuel was, "Is your plea an individual decision?"

Manuel again answered, "Yes, sir."

-----

JACKSONVILLE -- Former St. Johns County Commission Chairman Thomas G. Manuel pleaded guilty to a federal bribery charge Friday, telling a judge he accepted $60,000 from developers in exchange for their support on the commission. Manuel, who faces 10 years in prison, and the prosecution agreed to a plea deal, but the sentencing recommendations of the deal were not discussed. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled later. Manuel told U.S. District Court Judge Howard T. Snyder that he spent $3,400 of the first cash bribery of $10,000. But he never got to spend any of the additional $50,000, as he was arrested by FBI detectives minutes after he accepted the money. See Manuel's plea agreement

Click here to return to story:
http://www.staugustine.com/stories/080109/news_1807932.shtml

© The St. Augustine Record