By Mark Zaretsky, Register Staff

BRANFORD — The firefighters union will recover $38,000 that former union official Michael Manemeit embezzled years ago, as part of a settlement of lawsuits filed against Manemeit by the union and state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.

“This makes them whole,” said Gregory P. Cohan, an attorney for the firefighters union. Had the union pressed its case in court, it could have received “treble damages,” or three times the amount that Manemeit agreed to pay, he said.

“We’re happy to have some closure on the case,” said Randall Chittenden, former union president and now a union trustee.

He called it “kind of questionable as far as whether we’re whole,” however, and said no one knows for sure if the union will recover all it lost “because it was mostly done through cash withdrawals.”

But “it would probably cost us more money to try to get every dime back” than the union might collect, Chittenden said.

Initial estimates at the time that Blumenthal’s office filed its lawsuit were that at least $24,000 had been taken, “but further review determined that $38,000 was the correct amount,” Chittenden said.

Under the terms of a stipulated judgment settling the attorney general’s case, the union agreed to withdraw its case.

In exchange, Manemeit, who is now retired from the Fire Department, agreed to pay a total of $38,000, $2,000 within 15 days of the judgment, and $300 every month thereafter until the $38,000 is paid in full.

In addition, should Manemeit acquire “an ownership interest in an asset” exceeding $1,000 in fair market value within 10 years of the judgment, he is required to pay 75 percent of the fair market value of that asset — or the balance of the $38,000, whichever is less — to accelerate the repayment, according to the judgment.

“Mr. Manemeit has already paid $2,000 and must make monthly $300 payments until he restores the funds he illegally removed,” said Blumenthal. Continued...

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Chittenden said the union has instituted a number of safeguards to ensure that nothing like the theft ever happens again.

Among them, the union now bars cash withdrawals from its accounts, and any withdrawal by check now requires two signatures, he said.

Recent firefighters union fundraisers have helped pay for half of a $14,000, lifesaving Lucas CPR machine — for which the town paid the other half — and raised money to help support the Community Dining Room soup kitchen and a scholarship fund established in memory of Aedan Bloomquist, Chittenden said.

Contact Mark Zaretsky at 203-789-5722 or mzaretsky@newhavenregister.com.

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