Vero Beach man who avoided a jail escape conviction found guilty of child porn possession

VERO BEACH − A 79-year-old Vero Beach man who last year was acquitted of an attempted jail escape charge, was convicted Wednesday of possessing enough child pornography to warrant up to 200 years in prison, according to court records and a prosecutor.

It took an Indian River County jury of four men and two women about 30 minutes to convict John Manchec of 39 counts of possession of child pornography and one count of failure to appear in court.

Each conviction carries a maximum prison term of five years, records show.

Manchec, who lived in the 4500 block of Kodiak Drive when he was arrested in 2014, is a native of France who’s lived in Vero Beach since the late 1990s.

According to court records, on Oct. 2, 2014, Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigators determined that Manchec was using a home computer “to traffic in child pornography,” using peer-to-peer software.

Peer-to-peer software allows individual computer systems to connect to each other over the internet to share files.

Assistant State Attorney William Long said when state and local authorities executed a search warrant at Manchec’s home, “far more” child pornography than agents suspected was found on his computer.

“He ultimately confessed to being the one who downloaded the child pornography,” Long said Wednesday after court. “And he confessed to knowing that the possession was illegal.”

Videos he possessed included adults having sex with children as young as 2 years of age, Long said.

Manchec was arrested in December 2014, but he left the country after paying a nearly $500,000 bail and returned to Europe, where, since the 90s, he’s owned and renovated a Medieval estate into a hotel in southwestern France — the Chateau Pechrigal, sheriff's officials said.

The estate was put up for auction in 2020, according to Barnebys.com and Concierge Auctions.

In 2020, Manchec was arrested in the Dominican Republic and returned to Indian River County.

During Manchec’s trial, he briefly took the stand Wednesday, but Long said it appeared the jury rejected his testimony.

“From the state's perspective, his testimony was filled with obvious falsehoods, and I think the jury saw through what he was trying to do,” Long said after court.

Foiled escape plot

Sheriff’s officials said from jail, Manchec hatched an escape plan that was supposed to happen during a scheduled doctor’s visit.

When sheriff’s officials were tipped off, detectives began monitoring Manchec’s phone calls and later devised a ruse that intercepted the escape attempt during the planned doctor visit, Sheriff Eric Flowers said at the time.

During a trial in December, Senior Judge Joe Wild dismissed Manchec’s escape charge.

His former lawyer, Jonathan “Jay” Kirschner said Wild in his ruling correctly relied on established case law that “talks about the difference between actually committing an attempted escape versus just talking about it.”

Afterwards, Manchec was returned to jail to await this trial, which began Monday and included less than two days of testimony.

Flowers on Wednesday lauded the jury’s verdict in convicting Manchec.

“It’s been a long time coming that Mr. Manchec be held accountable for his egregious crimes including possessing awful child pornography. We are thankful to the jurors and our entire judicial system for their work this week,” Flowers said. “He has shown on multiple occasions that he believes he is above the law and doesn’t intend to be held accountable.

Added Flowers: “Our team and the Department of Corrections will ensure he stays safely behind bars where he belongs.”

Long too, praised jurors - four men and four women, including alternates - who served “beyond their civic duty,” given the amount of disturbing child porn videos they had to review, he said.

“Having to watch all 40 of these files of the images of child pornography … is one of the hardest things that I personally have ever asked a jury to do,” he said. “And it was awful. There's just no two ways to describe this evidence.”

Manchec’s sentencing is July 30.

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Melissa E. Holsman is the legal affairs reporter for TCPalm and Treasure Coast Newspapers and is writer and co-host of "Uncertain Terms," a true-crime podcast. Reach her at melissa.holsman@tcpalm.com. If you are a subscriber, thank you. If not, become a subscriber to get the latest local news on the Treasure Coast.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Vero Beach man guilty of child porn possession 10 years after arrest