Manning [photo, circa 2015], allegedly faked his own suicide and vanished, to avoid jail for child pornography and child molestation charges. He was facing two counts of solicitation of a minor to engage in the preparation of sexual images and possession of child pornography in Sept. 2015, but failed to show up for sentencing
His sentencing was scheduled for October 6, 2016, but failed to appear in court. A car rented in his name was found a day after the scheduled hearing by National Park Service officers near San Fraancisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, along with a suicide note in his handwriting.
However Manning’s body was never found, which prompted a wide-scale search involving Chico Police Detectives, the United States Marshal’s Service Fugitive Task Force and the FBI.

Detectives began to investigate a close associate of Manning’s and found what appeared to be ‘sophisticated counter surveillance measures’ by him.
Police searched for him in Chico, Yuba City, Sacramento, San Francisco, Berkeley, Oakland, and Alameda.
Residences, storage facilities, and vehicles linked to Manning’s associate were frequently found full of personal property and then abandoned.
Investigators believed that on multiple occasions they narrowly missed apprehending Manning, including when he was believed to be at the Fortman Marina in Alameda, California.
Last month, the U.S. Marshals Service received leads that Manning could be in Florida, the Chico.
They found him after responding to a burglary alarm at a business on the Stock Island Marina in Key West Florida.
He was arrested by Monroe County Sheriff’s deputies, who found him living in a conex storage container.
After a wide-scale search, cops found Manning living in a connex shipping container at the Stock Island Marina, after responding to a burglary alarm at a nearby business in Key West, Florida on May 3
Manning had identified himself as a man called William Wallace Littlejohn and had a fake U.S. passport and U.S. Navy identification card.
While in the Monroe County Jail, the suspect underwent fingerprint analysis and was positively identified as Michael Manning.
He now remains in custody on no-bail warrants awaiting extradition to California.
The original charges were brought against Manning following an investigation in September 2015 when a victim reported being sexually assaulted in 2008-2009 when she was 12 to 14 years old.
Search warrants served at Manning’s home turned up child pornography. He was arrested and booked on four charges including child sex assault. But he posted bail and was released from Butte County Jail.
He was then was out of custody on bail but failed to appear in court and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest on September 6, 2016.
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