A Louisiana woman allegedly caught using credit cards belonging to Telemundo journalist Adan Manzano after he was found dead has a lengthy rap sheet of arrests — and police allege she has a signature modus operandi.
Danette Colbert, 48, a resident of Slidell, was arrested after attempting to use Manzano’s cards at stores in New Orleans. Manzano, a journalist for Telemundo KC in town to cover the Super Bowl, was found dead in a hotel in Kenner on Feb. 5.
Kenner police say that security footage at the hotel shows Colbert accompanying the 27-year-old reporter to his hotel room on the morning of Feb. 5 before leaving later that day by herself.
Colbert has not been charged in connection with Manzano’s death as of midday on Feb. 7. But she has previously been accused of drugging and stealing from men in different parts of the country and was known to New Orleans police as a “career criminal” who allegedly trawled for victims in the famed French Quarter, Kenner Police Chief Keith Conley said at a Friday press conference.
Colbert was first arrested in New Orleans in 2012 and was charged with robbery, according to Orleans Parish court records. She pleaded guilty and received two years probation and a $2,700 fine.
Colbert was arrested again in 2014 after a tourist said he’d met a woman and returned to his hotel room with her near Lafayette Square. He then claimed he woke up missing $100 in cash, his credit cards, and a $4,000 Rolex watch, police said, per the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
The woman was then caught on surveillance footage making cash withdrawals with the man’s cards three separate times at a store’s ATM; when she returned and the manager called police, she reported the woman, identified as Colbert, returned with two other women and assaulted the manager, leaving her with a black eye.
Colbert would eventually plead guilty to intimidating witness, 2nd degree battery, bank fraud, theft under $5000, and burglary, per Louisiana court records, and received five years probation.
In 2016, she was charged with snatching a purse and burglarizing a home in Orleans Parish, per court records. She again pleaded guilty to the charges and got five years probation.
Colbert was arrested again in January 2022, this time in Las Vegas. She was charged with grand larceny and administering a drug in commission of a felony, per Nevada court records.
Citing an arrest report, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported a man allegedly invited her and another woman up to his hotel room, then woke up missing nearly $100,000 in cash, casino chips, jewelry, and luxury luggage.
Colbert denied drugging the man or stealing his stuff, the outlet reports.
That July, while out of jail on bond, per court records, Las Vegas police alleged Colbert pulled off a similar move, again at the Wynn, the Review-Journal reports; she was again charged with grand larceny and administering a drug in commission of a felony, per Nevada court records.
Per the outlet, citing police, a male patron said he invited Colbert and another woman up to his room at the Wynn. Later, he said he woke up missing a $60,000 watch, $1,500 in casino chips and his credit cards, which he said had been used to make purchases.
The following month — again while out on bond — Colbert was arrested for allegedly driving her car nearly 100 mph in a Las Vegas school zone, KSNV reports. She was hit with charges for aggressive driving, driving without insurance or a valid license and speeding, per court records.
The theft cases against her in Vegas were dismissed, per court records, while the driving violation remains active: records show she failed to appear in court in January 2023, leading a judge to issue a bench warrant for her arrest.
More recently, she appeared to return to New Orleans. In May 2023 she was hit with computer fraud, illegal transmission of money and theft of up to $5,000 in Orleans Parish; she got five years probation.
Colbert’s most recent charges included a DUI and driving without a license, insurance or a seatbelt in May 2024 in Orleans Parish. She pleaded guilty and got 6 months probation,
