A Birmingham con man was sentenced to incarceration on two counts of felony theft in Jefferson County Tuesday. 

According to court documents, 66-year-old Roger Lee Manning was found guilty on one count of theft in the first degree, a class C felony, and one count of theft in the second degree, a class D felony. Manning was originally charged with two counts of theft in the first degree in early 2020. He claimed to be a wealthy benefactor of the arts who had extensive wealth and properties all over the country due to his early investment in a California technology firm in the 1980’s. Though he told a local victim that his finances were not liquid and convinced them to write him a $15,000 check to buy land, and in return gave the victim a post-dated check for $16,000 linked to an account with vastly insufficient funds.  

Manning was also alleged to have made fake six-figure plus gifts to various artistic and non-profit organizations around Jefferson County in addition to five-figure theft of services from professionals in the community. After being arrested and charged in 2020, Manning posted bond and promptly fled to California. The Jefferson County Attorney’s Office put out a warning in March of 2020 alerting the public of Manning’s scams. The Attorney’s Office received calls semi-monthly from concerned members of the public regarding Manning attempting similar scams in northern California. A citizen out of Redding, California contacted the Jefferson County Attorney’s Office with Manning’s location. The Attorney’s Office coordinated with detectives from the Redding Police Department and successfully arrested Manning on multiple outstanding felony warrants and was extradited back to Iowa. 

Manning was sentenced to 10 years of incarceration for each charge to run concurrently with $2,395 in suspended fines and restitution to his victims ordered by the court.