FAIRBANKS—The blast that rocked Chena Ridge last February, touched off by lighting 300 pounds of explosives, continues to create aftershocks for a former Fairbanks chiropractor now facing federal weapons charges.
Guy Christopher Mannino, 55, is also facing a bankruptcy fraud investigation and a federal review of "voluminous" records seized in Tennessee about his activities as a firearms dealer, according to a document filed by his public defender in federal court. Mannino, who has entered a plea of not guilty to the six charges against him, alleges the firearms and the silencer seized from his Fairbanks property after the blast cannot be used as evidence because the search warrant mentioned explosives, but not firearms and silencers.
The Chena Ridge bombing, which took place on the property of Fairbanks dentist Craig O'Donoghue, rattled houses throughout the suburban Fairbanks neighborhood and could be heard 20 miles away. After authorities learned that Mannino had set off the explosives, they searched his home and business. Among other items, they seized a 12-gauge shotgun, a Ruger 10/22, a Sten machine gun and five silencers.
In September, federal authorities arrested Mannino in Nashville on six federal weapons charges linked to that search. He was transferred to the Fairbanks Correctional Center.
Mannino, who helped start a local chapter of the Alaska Machine Gun Association four years ago, is charged with three counts of transferring unregistered firearms, two counts related to an unregistered and illegal machine gun and one count of making a false statement. His attorney filed a document Friday in federal court challenging the legality of seizing weapons from his property.
"The warrant in this case does not authorize a general search of Mr. Mannino's home for firearms and silencers," public defender M.J. Haden said.
Haden wrote that the weapons were in plain view during the search, but "inspecting the firearms and silencers for serial numbers or other identifying information constituted an impermissible, warrantless search."
Mannino was charged with criminal mischief in state court after the Chena Ridge bombing, but a grand jury declined to indict him and the case was dropped.
Mannino requested a public defender for the federal case because he said he could not afford an attorney. He has been seeking protection under federal bankruptcy laws for the past couple of years.
The federal government received a judgment against him in 1998 for $80,000 in unpaid student loans that dated back to the 1980s when he studied for a Doctor of Chiropractic degree. Since the judgment, according to the bankruptcy filings, the debt has been increasing at $58 a day and now exceeds $227,000.
His bankruptcy attorney said that Mannino had "at all times acted in good faith with respect to his obligations," but he couldn't pay the bill because he is disabled and unable to work. He was living on disability payments of $2,300 a month when he filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy case on Nov. 7, 2011, attorney Jason Gazewood said in a court filing in March.
In the filing Friday, Haden said that after Mannino's arrest in Nashville, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms searched his residence in Tennessee.
"Seized from this residence were all he and his wife's records concerning their federal firearms licenses and the registration/sales of firearms. The government is in the process of securing these records and notes that the records are 'voluminous.' In addition, the government advises that the United States Attorney's office for the District of Alaska has been referred a bankruptcy fraud prosecution from the United States Bankruptcy Trustee's office out of Seattle," Haden wrote.
"Both of these pending investigations could have an impact on the resolution of the charges at hand."
Haden asked for a delay in the trial date on the weapons charges until February or March, a motion unopposed by prosecutors.
Contact Dermot Cole at dermot(at)alaskadispatch.com. Follow him on Twitter @dermotmcole