An attempted murderer was living in Saddlebrook instead of prison when Broward decided they wanted him back. And five Boca residents face patient brokering fraud charges resulting from a larger operation by a state attorney task force. We cover this story along with the usual drugs, drunk driving, battery, theft and battery stories, all for paid subscribers.
Detective Mark Berey of the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office provided a lengthy narrative in his report on the arrest of Alana Manko. It started in 2017.
Berey’s description leads to a treatment center named “Treatment Alternatives” or “TA” on Federal Highway in Boca, which is or was run by Steve Manko, his wife Alana and their daughter Irene. He indicates that TA received payments from Coastal Laboratory in Lake Park. Someone from Coastal would deliver cash payments of $10,000 to $20,000 to the Mankos. This stopped in 2016 when the Mankos severed the relationship.
The allegations in the Berey’s report indicate that all three of the Mankos were in on the dealings, and concludes with the charges filed against them including felonies for soliciting and receiving $200,000 in kickbacks as well as conspiracy to commit patient brokering.
Considering the cash transactions, there may be tax implications as well. Judging by Alana Manko’s address on the intracoastal south of Spanish River Blvd, the business was good to the family until now. It appears that Steve Manko has not been arrested and no case is filed, yet. We see no significant criminal history for any of the Mankos.
Brian Mangines (56) was arrested a few days ago for patient brokering fraud but no case shows up in the court file yet. His reported address is in on Eagle Run Drive in Wedgewood Estates, near the Boca Municipal Golf Course in West Boca. We see no history for him either.
James Kigar (57) does have a case that shows up and it mentions Mangines and also Matthew Driscoll (52). The three ran another treatment center, Whole Life Recovery, on Congress in Boynton Beach. Along with a fourth manager they were charged under similar circumstances to the Mankos but for just one much smaller transaction of $5400, also back in 2016.
Driscoll’s reported address is in the Seasons development at Jog and Clint Moore. Kigar’s reported address is in East Boca near Camino Gardens
We don’t normally include out-of-county warrant arrests in our reports, but this one stood out to us. Kehron Macon (21) was arrested on a warrant from Broward County. Macon is (or was) a resident of Affirmed Lane in Saddlebrook, which runs between 441 and Lyons south of Boca Gardes and Clint Moore.
The story starts with Macon’s 2016 arrest for attempted murder. He was 18 at the time and living in Coconut Creek when he robbed victims in a car at gunpoint. Two victims attempted to flee from the car and Macon pointed a gun at them. Macon also pointed a gun at one victim and fired the gun, though fortunately it appears he missed and no one was hurt.
The interesting part of this story is that Macon is not in prison, but rather we have an attempted murderer living in West Boca. He faced a minimum mandatory sentence of 20 years for the attempted murder. The defense ask the court to grant a “downward departure” treating Macon as a youthful offender.
The motion was thin, only 3 pages long, but the Broward prosecutors did not oppose it. So Macon was sentenced to 2 years in prison, most of which he had already served while the case was pending. And then he was sentenced to 2 years of “community control,” which seems like a form of probation.
Apparently taking off the locator bracelet (for 3 1/2 minutes one morning) and smoking marijuana (2 urine tests in December) are not consistent with community control, so Broward issued a warrant to bring him back to court.
It seems disturbing that the State would first of all let someone off so lightly for such a serious crime. But also disturbing is that the public in West Boca was not given any notice that a violent criminal was going to be living among us. If we get notice of sex offenders, we should also get notice of attempted murderers.
Adam Bennett (30) was arrested after he tried to walk out of a Delray Walgreens with a bottle of Grey Goose vodka. At least he has good taste in vodka.
Police ran the license plate and Bennett’s father identified him from the surveillance and helped police locate the vehicle. Court records show multiple priors including a 2016 felony arrest for home invasion with a firearm. So naturally for South Florida he’s free to continue misbehaving.
Bennett’s reported address is in the Boca Quay complex on the intracoastal off Jeffery, which is effectively the East Boca extension of Clint Moore.
We mentioned Christine Bean (46) in our last report and as we said she’s in this one too. This time she was arrested for shoplifting from the CVS on Glades Road near FAU after stealing nearly $500 in merchandise. Bean fought with the store manager, biting and kicking him. Her reported residence is on Federal Highway in East Boca. She has several prior cases in the system.
What looks like a dick move turns in John Comer’s case turned into felony grand theft auto. His half-sister rented a car and they drove to North Florida. They returned back and stayed in a hotel before the sister would fly out of state the next day, or so she thought.
Comer said he was going out for cigarettes and left the room, taking the car and driving off, leaving his sister stranded and without items she had left in the vehicle. After he repeatedly broke promises to return with the car and her stuff, she called the police and reported the vehicle stolen.
Comer has no reported address and has a couple minor prior cases here. He may have spent time in other areas though his place of birth is West Palm Beach.
There’s a special place in hell for people who key your car, and Jennifer Freed just secured her spot. She keyed her neighbor’s Tesla in the Bella Vista neighborhood on Town Harbour Blvd across from Olive Garden. The Tesla’s video cameras, probably in the new Sentry Mode, captured Freed’s vandalism. A similar incident was just reported by Electrek. We see no priors for Freed.
In another dick move Jayson Sawyer (40) clipped another driver’s car breaking off the mirror and then drove off. The victim followed Sawyer to his home on Lombard Avenue in Palmetto Pines and called PBSO.
Sawyer was less than cooperative with the deputy, described in detail by the deputy:
We do not see much criminal history for Sawyer, though he did have a few criminal traffic matters several years ago.
In the drug section of our crime report we start off with Matthew Eldredge, 29, of Boca Landings. Eldredge faces charges involving possession of cocaine, marijuana and drug paraphernalia, along with driving on a suspended license and with a stolen license plate.
An automated license reader on Atlantic near the intracoastal detected the stolen plate and notified Delray PD. This leads to our latest pro tip for druggies – if you have something illegal inside your car, it’s not a good idea to have something illegal outside your car. It tends to draw unwanted attention from people with badges and guns
Eldredge had a DUI in 2017 reduced to reckless driving, and was ticketed for driving under suspension in 2018. We see no other criminal history.
Steven Lee Wilson (28) of Dixie Highway in East Boca was arrested in Lantana for selling cocaine, oxycodone, and ecstasy. A deputy sheriff approached Wilson’s vehicle in a Taco Bell parking lot, described in the report as a “high crime area.” Obviously Wilson should have been in a Dunkin Donuts lot.
Upon the deputy’s approach Wilson opened the car door which led the deputy to notice “a strong odor of burnt marijuana emanating from the vehicle.” This phrasing is common in some police lies but here, accompanied by a lit marijuana cigar, it seems likely to be true.
Wilson then admitted he had no license, that there is a warrant out for his arrest, and that he sells drugs. Inside the car deputies found cocaine, oxycodone and ecstasy along with something they suspect is fentanyl but did not test yet for safety reasons. Wilson also had over $2000 in cash in the car.
Wilson has numerous priors including a live case in Broward. The pro tip here is that you should not voluntarily open your door or window for police. Wilson had done nothing that was obviously illegal when the deputy approached. There would have been no legal basis to take things further had Wilson just stayed in his car and remained silent. Or parked in a Dunkin Donuts.
Jacob Ghanem was just in our crime report recently for a seemingly bogus battery on his girlfriend. Now he’s back for possession of hashish. Boca PD stopped the Ghanem in a 2006 Volvo for a broken tail light. A consent search revealed a pipe with a small amount of THC oil in it. Our hunch is that this charge will be dropped, but Ghanem will still have to explain to his family and friends why he was driving an old boring car. They own a high end car dealership.
Jacob Stroup (31) was found talking to himself, acting erratically, running and possibly dancing in the middle of Federal Highway. He admitted to Boca PD that he had been using heroin and they found some on him. Stroup has no reported address and several priors in the court system.
Colin Mock (41) of East Boca was arrested for DUI at the Jupiter Medical Center. The former student of Spanish River High and Palm Beach State said he was trying to check in to the hospital for detox. Police were called after he backed his SUV into a BMW. Mock had a felony drug paraphernalia case last year.
Peachy Clean’s Debbie D’Amaro (32) of East Boca was arrested in Lake Worth for DUI after some allegedly erratic driving. Reading the police report it doesn’t look there was enough to justify the officer making a stop but that’s what they have judges for. D’Amaro refused a breath test. We see no criminal history for her.
Sorry to say that Linda Henszey’s mugshot looks bad for 58 years old. She was arrested for DUI by PBSO in Boca Del Mar near her home when she was found sleeping in her car stopped in the middle of Porto Fino Drive. Deputies were eventually able to wake her but she fell back asleep. If I’m reading the paperwork correctly she blew 0.32 on the breath test, 4 times the legal limit.
Marvin Vanegas-Portillo (33), a Salvadoran who works at Terra Fiamma was arrested for DUI on Yamato in East Boca near his home. He was pulled over after the officer saw him driving the wrong way on Yamato at 7:30 pm. We see no priors for him.
School teacher and East Boca resident Melissa Lopez (25) was arrested for DUI on Palmetto Park Road, after failing to stay in one lane. She admitted to having six drinks at Hijinks and a glass of wine later at a friend’s house in West Boca. Her breath test registered 0.16, double the legal limit.
Winning the “Girlfriend from Hell” award this week is Jacyn Klee (30), a resident of the apartments at Mizner Park. The first sign you might be dating the wrong person is when you realize she’s wearing an ankle monitor. Boca PD officers noticed this when they arrived at the Klee apartment on a domestic disturbance call.
The two had gone to a restaurant in Mizner Park earlier that evening and Klee ditched the boyfriend for about an hour, returning drunk and aggressive (not sexually). Back in the apartment she smashed his watch, tried to strangle him, and began pushing, punching and biting him.
The ankle monitor dates back to two earlier incidents: Her DUI arrest in Broward which also involved a felony charge of battery on a police officer, and then the revocation of her bond for a subsequent incident where she attacked the boyfriend and then later attacked the police officers who had been called.
So maybe she’s not the one.
And something we can’t answer yet is that there are new charges filed against Klee in the last few days that related back to a September incident. The police report on that incident is not available at this writing but the new charges include felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, battery and false imprisonment. We’re guessing this is against the same boyfriend but we’re not sure.
Jeremy Klein (33) of the Parkside gated community off Military Trail has a bit of a history. The latest incident is a charge of felony battery for choking his girlfriend during an argument.
In 2016 he faced a domestic battery charge. In 2011 he got a DUI. In 2010 he was arrested for driving while suspended. Plus he’s had quite a few traffic tickets with some very high speeds.
It should be noted he used to live in Boca Lago. Klein describes himself on LinkedIn as “self-made” and head of two marketing companies we can’t find.
Michael Adler (27) got in an argument with his mother in her house in the Strathmore neighborhood off Jog south of the St. Andrews School. Hitting his mother in the head a few times got him a charge of domestic battery. We see no prior criminal history for him.
Vanessa Santos (38) is our road rage winner. Her victim was stuck behind her car at a green light. She did not move in response to honks so he approached the car and knocked on her window. She got out of the car and began throwing things at him. When the victim got back in his car she began banging on his window. He got out to prevent her from breaking the window. As the police arrived she was “flailing her arms” at the victim who had his arms up to protect his face.
As a bonus she left a child in the car with the door open, getting her an additional charge of neglecting a child. It’s not in the police report but there appears to be an additional charge of vehicle burglary, probably for attempting to break the victim’s car window.
