Martinez, California – The Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office secured a felony grand theft conviction against a former battalion chief with the Contra Costa Fire Protection District as part of a negotiated disposition.
58-year-old Louis Manzo, Jr. of Danville was initially charged by the District Attorney’s Office in 2019 with felony crimes related to the misappropriation of public funds that occurred between 2014-2019.
Moreover, Manzo, Jr. committed theft of Contra Costa Fire Protection District funds by falsifying information on timekeeping records, paid time off requests, and then redirecting public funds for his personal use.
The Fire Protection District lost over $46-thousand dollars in fraudulent salary payments.
Contra Costa District Attorney Diana Becton said: “Acts of public corruption erode the integrity of our institutions that are here to serve our communities. The resolution in this case ensures that the misappropriated funds are returned to the Fire District.”
The case was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Steven Bolen, who said that Manzo, Jr. pled no contest to one count of felony grand theft [PC 487(a)]. He’s been ordered by the court to serve 30 days of custody time through the Sheriff’s Work Alternative Program, one year of court probation, 30 hours of community service, must pay restitution and fines, cannot have any contact with Fire District employees, and is ordered to stay away from all official Fire District locations.
Manzo Jr. also must comply with searches and seizures of records and other materials related to his finances. In addition to the court-ordered penalties, Manzo Jr.’s felony plea will also affect his county pension benefits under Government Code section 7522.72. Case No. 01-192362-2 | The People of the State of California v. Manzo, Louis Jr.
Dec 6, 2019 Former Con Fire Battalion Chief Charged with 12 Felonies for Falsifying Payroll Records, Misappropriation of Taxpayer Monies
Martinez, Calif. – Earlier this week the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office filed criminal charges against former Contra Costa County Fire Protection District (Con Fire) Battalion Chief Louis Manzo Jr. of Danville.
Con Fire worked closely with our Office on the investigation and the filing of 12 felonies against Manzo. Con Fire reported the initial allegations to our Office earlier this year.
“Public employees must always be held to a higher standard as stewards of taxpayer dollars. Further, employees in positions of trust and management must conduct themselves in an honorable manner. Manzo took advantage of his knowledge of Con Fire’s internal system to fraudulently mispresent his hours and time off requests, in two separate fraud schemes,” said Deputy District Attorney Dodie Katague. DDA Katague is with our Office’s Consumer Protection Unit within the Special Operations Division.
During the course of one scheme, Manzo would take vacation days but then later change his timecard record to claim special pay for an extra assignment outside of his normal course of duties. When Manzo took a vacation day, Con Fire needed to cover that shift for public safety purposes. Manzo would also list events for his special assignment that he did not attend or did not happen on the days he said they did. He then would go back and not claim vacation time to ensure his bank of vacation hours remained unaffected in relation to his pension.
The second scheme Manzo employed was to claim overtime pay for out-of-office work events he said he attended. A review was conducted of his GPS logs on his assigned work vehicle. The investigation determined that Manzo did not attend these events or was never near the event location.
In total, the loss to Con Fire is $46,000 in direct salary payments and $19,000 in costs incurred to cover shifts while Manzo was out of the office or claiming to be on special assignment.
Manzo faces up to nine years in state prison. Defendant is also subject to Government Code 7522.72 regarding the forfeiture of his pension and his pension will have to be recalculated without the fraudulent vacation days.
Case information: People v. Louis Manzo Jr., Docket Number 01-192362-2
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- March 10 – Contra Costa Firefighters Battle Vacant Warehouse Fire in Antioch
- March 8 – Contra Costa Fire Battling 3-Alarm Vegetation Fire
- Jan 12 – Brentwood Gets Update on Two Future Contra Costa Fire Stations
2 comments
Diana Becton is a walking “act of public corruption “
Disgrace to the badge.
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