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Escaped robber returns to annals of weird crime -- Cops say 'Roofman' lived large in store
San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 1/11/5 | Demian Bulwa, Charles Burress

Posted on 1/11/2005, 9:30:39 PM by SmithL

The slick-as-fry-oil robber known as "Roofman," a former Army reservist in Concord who drilled and dropped into fast-food joints from the Bay Area to Massachusetts, is back behind bars with another whopper of a saga.

His downfall this time? A woman.

By day, Jeffrey Manchester's spent his six months on the lam as a generous churchgoing volunteer known as John, who gave toys to kids and told his new girlfriend and church congregation that he had a secret government job, police said.

At night, he was a fugitive hiding and playing in a Toys "R" Us, making his lair in a cubbyhole in the bicycle display, racing remote-control cars on the roof after hours and riding bikes around the store for exercise, said Sgt. Katherine Scheimreif of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg, N.C., police. He even monkeyed with the employees' work schedules, and his diet included stolen baby food, she said.

The crafty and polite Manchester, 33, was serving a 45-year sentence in June when he hid under a delivery truck and became the first person ever to escape from the Brown Creek Correctional Institution in Polkton, N.C.

Suspected of at least 40 robberies at McDonald's and other businesses in the Bay Area and across the country before being sent to prison in 2000, he was caught again last week in Charlotte, where police are still piecing together the brazen new persona he created.

When the Toys "R" Us where he was holed up became crowded during the holiday shopping season, he fashioned a secret passageway into an adjoining Circuit City that had been abandoned, Scheimreif said. In a cubicle he built of sheetrock under a stairwell, he painted the walls, put up posters and action figures, mounted a toy basketball hoop and watched Spiderman and other movies on a DVD player,...

(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: jailsrus
I doan wanna grow-up
1 posted on 1/11/2005, 9:30:40 PM by SmithL
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To: SmithL
By day, Jeffrey Manchester's spent his six months on the lam as a generous churchgoing volunteer known as John, who gave toys to kids and told his new girlfriend and church congregation that he had a secret government job, police said.

The government takes a lot more from the store than that guy could have possibly taken. Taxes.

2 posted on 1/11/2005, 9:35:05 PM by coloradan (Hence, etc.)
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To: SmithL

The article makes good reading and I'm sure he is a charming chap who wouldn't intentionally hurt a fly but nevertheless I'm not laughing:

____________________________________________________________

"He bought her diamond earrings and expensive scarves; he gave gifts to her three children. They spent the holidays together, decorated her Christmas tree and went to movies.

But after learning his real identity, Wainscott agreed to cooperate with police and arranged for Manchester to come to her home on Jan. 5 for her 40th birthday. Instead of finding her and her children, he was nabbed by waiting police."
____________________________________________________________

So he romanced a vulnerable older woman with kids and seduced her congregation.

____________________________________________________________

"Manchester also got to talk to his mother after the arrest.

Explaining his capture, he told her, "Mom, I kind of lost focus," she recalled Monday. The mother, who asked not to be identified, lives in the Sacramento area, where Manchester's twin 13-year-old boys and 11-year daughter also live with their mother."

____________________________________________________________

So he already has three children who he dumped on his mom while he lives out his teenage fantasies. So he isn't a serial killer, child molester nor (apparently) a drug addict. Why an obviously talented, energetic man who is not being ruled by inner demons chooses to throw his life away like this truly leaves me scratching my head.



3 posted on 1/11/2005, 9:44:16 PM by sinanju
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To: SmithL

"At night, he was a fugitive hiding and playing in a Toys "R" Us, making his lair in a cubbyhole in the bicycle display, racing remote-control cars on the roof after hours and riding bikes around the store for exercise, said Sgt. Katherine Scheimreif of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg, N.C., police. He even monkeyed with the employees' work schedules..."

Don't they have motion sensors and tape recorders on the security cameras? What's up with this?


4 posted on 1/11/2005, 9:44:47 PM by 7.62 x 51mm (• veni • vidi • vino • visa • "I came, I saw, I drank wine, I shopped")
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To: 7.62 x 51mm

I am amazed by this too. One large store was robbed of $250,000 worth of computer equipment in the last year. I thought they had night watchmen, which would be cheaper than losing all that loot.


5 posted on 1/11/2005, 9:50:27 PM by sine_nomine (Remember the unborn children, the weakest of the weak.)
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To: SmithL
"Mom, I kind of lost focus,"
6 posted on 1/11/2005, 10:07:26 PM by WayneM (Remember; "Saturday people first. Sunday people next.")
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To: 7.62 x 51mm
They may had motion detectors ONLY in front of doorways, windows or shipping docks. Few stores have all night hidden cameras.

If he came through a wall or the roof... well, there were no motion detectors there obviously.

I have heard that many property owners actually advise there alarm companies NOT to call Police or them on just motion detectors.... only if the alarm signals come in with doors or windows.

7 posted on 1/11/2005, 10:40:34 PM by Lion in Winter (I ain't no pussy cat... don't mess with me... ya hear! GRRRRRRrrr)
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To: sine_nomine
I thought they had night watchmen, which would be cheaper than losing all that loot.

A couple of really mean junkyard dogs is the very best nighttime security for any store.
8 posted on 1/11/2005, 11:17:44 PM by Beckwith (John, you said I was going to be the First Lady. As of now, you're on the couch.)
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To: Lion in Winter
In my little $3.4m garden center & nursery, I have motion sensors in all office buildings where an empty space, greater than 10x10, is obvious. EDT does the hardware and software. If Toys R Us isn't doing that in every store, they deserve what they get.

My security company calls me on all alarms; I'm there in under 12 mins with a Kimber® "Eclipse Target II" 1911A1 .45cal ACP and a highly-customized, 8+1 Remy® 870 Synthetic 12ga Tactical Riot Shotgun.

Then, there's the dbl-door Canon® Gunsafe inside the GC&N Complex, which contains Class III Armalite® AR-10s and Class III Bushy® AR-15s. If I get to those toys, no burglar leaves the store, alive.

S,S&S-U.

9 posted on 1/11/2005, 11:36:52 PM by 7.62 x 51mm (• veni • vidi • vino • visa • "I came, I saw, I drank wine, I shopped")
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To: sinanju
Why an obviously talented, energetic man who is not being ruled by inner demons chooses to throw his life away like this truly leaves me scratching my head.

I'm asking this question too.

However, we may have found a candidate for the new post of National Intelligence Director. ;^>

10 posted on 1/11/2005, 11:43:10 PM by Phsstpok ("When you don't know where you are, but you don't care, you're not lost, you're exploring.")
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To: SmithL

I think he burrowed into the place where I worked once, through the roof. All he got was what was in the cash register, about $300.


11 posted on 1/12/2005, 12:20:00 AM by Kevin OMalley (No, not Freeper#95235, Freeper #1165: Charter member, What Was My Login Club.)
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To: sine_nomine
I am amazed by this too. One large store was robbed of $250,000 worth of computer equipment in the last year. I thought they had night watchmen, which would be cheaper than losing all that loot.

Quite often the night watchman serves as the "lookout" while the operation proceeds. Retail outlets loose more to employee theft than they do to customer theft as a rule.
12 posted on 1/12/2005, 1:28:55 AM by festus (The constitution may be flawed but its a whole lot better than what we have now.)
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To: concordKIWI

,,, there's politicians who should swap places with this guy in jail. At least he's doing things.


13 posted on 1/12/2005, 1:33:21 AM by shaggy eel
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To: 7.62 x 51mm; Lion in Winter; festus
From a story on the nbc6 web site (Charlotte, NC):

Police believe Manchester had been living in the area for the last six months. They said he first set up camp inside the Toys 'R Us on Independence Boulevard. According to police, Manchester hid behind a bike display while the store was open.

Manchester disabled the surveillance cameras at various times so he wouldn’t be seen, police said.

When the toy store got too crowded during the holiday, police said Manchester moved to the vacant Circuit City building next door.


14 posted on 1/12/2005, 3:26:26 AM by kayak (Have you prayed for your President today?)
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To: kayak
If he had tampered with or attempted to disarm the alarm system it would have sent a signal to the alarm company. Most surveillance cameras are not so rigged.

There is a new system out there which is available to business' which has a camera tat can transmit the video to any off site location like the owners home, cell phone or to an outsite security company. It is pretty expensive though.

15 posted on 1/12/2005, 4:03:29 AM by Lion in Winter (I ain't no pussy cat... don't mess with me... ya hear! GRRRRRRrrr)
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To: festus

So someone should watch the night watchman. I see too much gap between the losses and the cost to prevent them.


16 posted on 1/13/2005, 12:16:02 AM by sine_nomine (Remember the unborn children, the weakest of the weak.)
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