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Orland Hills Man Seized In Porn Case

Police, fire board chairman faces federal charges

By David Heinzmann, Tribune staff reporter
Originally published in the Chicago Tribune, April 3, 2002

The U.S. attorney has brought child pornography charges against an Orland Hills man who until last week headed a commission that hires and disciplines police officers in the southwest suburb.

Anthony J. Mannina III, 35, of the 9300 block of Meadow View Court, was charged Tuesday with receiving pornographic pictures of children via the Internet. Mannina is the second Chicago-area man charged in the government’s “Operation Candyman” child pornography investigation, which has brought 93 arrests nationwide.

Prosecutors charge that Mannina had been receiving about 20 pornographic pictures of children a week for two to three years, and that he visited child pornography Web sites daily over the same period of time.

FBI agents seized Mannina’s home computer March 27, the same day that he resigned as chairman of the Orland Hills Police and Fire Commission. Orland Hills Village Administrator John Daly said village officials were stunned and had not known that Mannina was the target of a criminal investigation until two days after he resigned.

“There was nothing in his background check that would indicate anything,” Daly said. “People do a lot of things behind closed doors that don’t show up in a background check.”

When reached by telephone at home Monday, Mannina declined to comment about the charges.

Mannina took over the commission in 1999, after the removal of Mark Demonte, who was charged with theft after police learned that he had been breaking into hotel rooms during wedding receptions at an Orland Hills hotel where he moonlighted as a security guard. Demonte later pleaded guilty and received a sentence of probation.

Daly said it was bad luck to have two consecutive chairmen of the Police and Fire Commission charged with criminal offenses.

Orland Hills officials said they had conducted a thorough background check before Mayor Kyle Hastings appointed Mannina to the post.

Mannina appeared in federal court Tuesday where Judge Arlander Keys released him to the custody of his aunt. Mannina, dressed in a white dress shirt and green pants, left the courthouse with his aunt, Rosalina Imbo, who co-signed his $10,000 bond, and another woman after the judge ordered him to have no contact with children, except supervised contact with his 5-year-old daughter. He also was required to submit to an evaluation to determine whether he needed psychiatric care.

Mannina also was ordered to not use any computer, other than the computer at the Dominick’s store where he works as a cook. Before agreeing to the terms of his release, Assistant U.S. Atty. Christina Egan contacted the store to make sure the work computer did not have Internet access.

Mannina surrendered to the FBI Monday night, said his attorney, Patrick Walsh, who added that he would not comment because he had not seen all of the evidence the government has collected. Mannina is getting a divorce, his lawyer said.

According to the government’s complaint, Mannina belonged to an online group of Internet users centered around a Web site that posted pornographic pictures of children. Armed with a court order, FBI agents gained access to the site. Mannina used an e-mail account to receive photos. On Jan. 14, 2001, his computer received 15 computer files containing illegal photographs, according to the complaint. “He poses a very real danger to children,” said Egan.

If convicted, Mannina could receive a prison sentence of up to 15 years.