The Elyria man serving prison time for setting fire to Lorain County Community College in 2009 has pleaded guilty to unrelated federal charges accusing him of sending a white powdery substance he claimed was anthrax to Summit County government offices.
Drew Manns appears in Lorain County Community Court in 2013. CHRONICLE FILE
Drew Manns, 32, entered the plea to charges of mailing threatening communication and sending false information and hoaxes during an appearance in federal court Wednesday, according to Mike Tobin, spokesman for Carole Rendon, acting U.S. Attorney for Northern Ohio.
Tobin said no sentence was agreed on as part of the plea and lawyers for the government and Manns will make their cases before a federal judge during a sentencing hearing set for September.
Manns was already serving his five-year sentence in a state prison when he mailed the letters to Summit County.
According to a federal indictment against Manns, handed down last year, he sent letters containing the white powdery substance to the Summit County Prosecutor’s Office and Summit County Clerk of Courts in August 2014.
The Akron Beacon Journal has previously reported that the substance was later determined to be sweetener.
Manns also faces state charges in Franklin County for allegedly sending similar letters to four TV stations and the state’s Correctional Institution Inspection Committee in May 2015.
A call to Manns’ attorney was not returned Wednesday.
When he was sentenced in 2014 for the setting the college fire, which began in the tunnels running under the campus, Manns insisted that the fire was accidental and that it started when he went to the tunnels to smoke a cigarette.
The blaze caused more than $8.4 million in damage to the LCCC campus.
Manns has an extensive criminal history including setting fires, escaping from the Lorain/Medina Community Based Correctional Facility, a standoff with Elyria police and illegally trying to buy a handgun.
Lawyers and mental health experts who have dealt with Manns have largely blamed his actions on brain damage caused by the anti-acne drug Accutane, which Manns’ mother took while she was pregnant with him.
The post LCCC firestarter pleads guilty to mailed anthrax hoax appeared first on Chronicle-Telegram.