The gig was up for a Lakewood, Wash. police officer who found himself arrested Wednesday for embezzling over $120,000 from a Fallen Officers' Fund set up for the families of four Lakewood Police officers slain in 2009.
Just two months after four officers were buried, Manos went to work lining his pockets with the donated money. The thefts started in January 2010, after Maurice Clemmons ambushed Sgt. Mark Renninger and officers Tina Griswold, Ronald Owens, and Greg Richards on Nov. 29, 2009 at a coffee shop as they worked on their laptops.
"Stealing from the children of our fallen officers is disgraceful," said Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist.
Charged with 10 federal felonies, Skeeter Timothy Manos, 34, was put in cuffs at the Lakewood City Hall on Wednesday morning.
As the treasurer of the Lakewood Police Independent Guild, Manos made himself at home with the money by secretly opening a bank account.
Manos deposited about $151,000 to his secret account instead of the Lakewood Officers' account earmarked just for the families of the fallen officers. By the time he was arrested, he had spent and gambled $120,000 at casinos, Las Vegas, Alaska Airlines, Home Depot, and Costco.
A fellow officer saw discrepancies in the account and turned him in.
"He betrayed the trust of everybody, the public who took such good care of our families after our officers were killed, the officers' families, every man and woman who works for the Lakewood Police Department or the City of Lakewood. I mean he just betrayed everybody," said Lakewood Police Chief Bret Farrar.
The murdered Lakewood Police Officers families' account had received more than $3.2 million to benefit them, but overseeing that amount of money was apparently too tempting for Manos' gambling problem.
From the slaying of a Mt. Rainier Park Ranger to Josh Powell killing his two young sons with a hatchet and blowing up his house, Washington state residents are sick about a man stealing from the fund of our four public servants who lost their lives in the line of duty.
“This is a sad day for our community,” U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan said in a statement. “These acts betrayed the memory of our fallen heroes, their families, fellow officers and all who supported the fund.”