Feds: Nothing hidden in Manuel case U.S. attorney says Manuel's lawyers had FBI recordings

Posted: December 22, 2009 - 12:13am
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By Paul Pinkham

Federal prosecutors have fired back against claims by suspended St. Johns County Commission Chairman Tom Manuel that they are hiding materials that could benefit him at his sentencing next month for bribery.

In a response filed in court after Manuel's motion last week, which included a transcript of a recorded conversation between a St. Augustine lawyer and the sheriff, the U.S. Attorney's Office denies hiding anything.

In fact, Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Savell wrote, the transcript came from one of numerous FBI recordings her office gave Manuel's lawyers. It shows that the motivation of St. Johns Sheriff David Shoar and attorney George McClure was to bring Manuel's actions to the FBI's attention so that an investigation could proceed, Savell wrote.

"The suggestions that this recorded conversation implies something sinister about the investigation ... is preposterous," she wrote. "The defendant has pleaded guilty to taking a bribe and has admitted that the facts as contained in ... his plea agreement are correct."

Manuel, 64, pleaded guilty in July to accepting a $10,000 bribe. He admitted a second count of accepting a $50,000 bribe, but that count was dropped as part of his plea bargain.

Sentencing is scheduled Jan. 28. He faces a maximum 10-year prison sentence.

On Wednesday his attorney, Bill Sheppard, filed a motion demanding that the U.S. Attorney's Office disclose "favorable sentencing evidence." Sheppard attached the 2008 transcript, in which he said Shoar and McClure "appeared to brag to each other about how certain matters would not be publicly revealed or known."

McClure, a land-use attorney, cooperated with the FBI. He recorded conversations with Manuel that led to his arrest after a meeting at a Jacksonville Beach restaurant at which the commissioner admitted accepting a $50,000 bribe to support development projects.

Sheppard didn't return a phone call Monday, and a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office said Savell wouldn't comment beyond her response to Sheppard's motion.

Manuel, a retired businessman and banker from Ponte Vedra Beach, won a four-year term on the commission in 2006, defeating an incumbent in the Republican primary. He refused to accept campaign checks from corporations or developers and criticized his opponent for being too friendly with developers.