Plea Entered In International Kidnapping Case With Vernon Ties

VERNON, CT — A defendant in an international kidnapping case who had been hiding in Vernon for years has enterd a plea, a leading prosecutor said.

John H. Durham, United States attorney for the District of Connecticut, said that 66-year-old Allan Mann Jr., also known as Hailee Randolph DeSouza and Hailey R. DeSouza, entered a guilty plea Thursday in New Haven federal court to a false statement offense related to his living in a Vernon housing complex under an illegal assumed name for about 30 years.

Mann was renting a place at the Parkwest complex in Vernon, a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Section 8 subsidized housing development, local police said.

According to court documents, Mann abducted his 21-month-old son, Jermaine Allan Mann, on June 24, 1987, during a court-ordered visit in Toronto, Canada.

Mann, a Canadian citizen, entered the U.S. with his son and changed his name to Hailee Randolph DeSouza, according to case records. He also changed the name of his son and acquired counterfeit birth certificates for both himself and his son, according to case records.

Mann has never applied for nor received citizenship status in the U.S., Durham said.

In June 1990, Mann, using the name Hailee Randolph DeSouza, applied for and received a Social Security number and, in support of the application, Mann presented his counterfeit birth certificate, case records indicate. In May 2018, Mann, using his alias, applied for a replacement Social Security card, authorities said.

Case records show that Mann has participated in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Section 8 subsidized housing program at various times since 2004. Mann made multiple false statements on HUD forms he signed in connection with his participation in the Section 8 program in Vernon and HUD has paid approximately $126,744 in housing assistance payments on Mann’s behalf, Case records indicate.

Mann also made multiple false statements on applications to participate in the state of Connecticut’s Medicaid program and, since January 2014, Medicaid has paid $52,970.19 in claims on behalf of Mann, and approximately $2,876.37 on behalf of his son, according to case records.

Mann pleaded guilty to one count of making a false statement, an offense that carries a maximum prison term of five years.

As part of his plea agreement, Mann has agreed to make restitution of $18,512.05 the Medicaid program, and $34,744 to HUD, Durham said.

He is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall on Nov. 14.

Mann has been detained since October 26, 2018, when he was arrested in Vernon on a criminal complaint.

Durham said an immigration detainer has been issued, and Mann faces "removal proceedings" at the conclusion of his sentence.

Canadian authorities have advised the U.S. government that Canada will seek to extradite Mann based on an outstanding warrant for abduction, Durham said.