The woman facing a murder charge in the death of Kansas City sports reporter Adan Manzano during Super Bowl week in New Orleans has been sentenced to prison for a previous unrelated case.
Danette Colbert, 48, was sentenced to 25 years in prison in Orleans Parish, Louisiana, after a judge revoked her probation in the case, according to court records. Colbert was convicted on charges of computer fraud, illegal transmission of monetary funds, and two counts of theft.
According to NOLA.com, Colbert drugged a man and stole $134,000 from him in November 2021 after they met in the French Quarter.
After her conviction, Orleans Parish Criminal District Court Judge Nandi Campbell suspended 10-year, 5-year and six-month sentences in the case and ordered Colbert to serve five years of active probation last November, court records said.
In March, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill’s office took over all pending charges against Colbert from district courts in multiple parishes across Louisiana. Murrill’s office also invoked the habitual offenders statute, where criminal defendants can be tagged as habitual offenders after a fourth felony charge, according to Louisiana law, and face longer prison sentences.
Colbert was on probation from the case when she allegedly drugged and killed Manzano, 27, who was on assignment in New Orleans, Louisiana, covering Super Bowl LIX for Telemundo and Tico Sports, a multimedia production company that broadcasts Kansas City Chiefs games in Spanish.
Colbert and an alleged accomplice, Rickey White, 34, both face charges of second-degree murder, simple robbery, access device fraud, illegal transmission of monetary funds, bank fraud, and computer fraud in Jefferson Parish.
Colbert has a history of drugging men and stealing from them, Kenner police said on the day of her arrest.