Robert SnellThe Detroit News
Detroit — Federal prosecutors are painting a more troubling picture of a former high-ranking University of Notre Dame official accused of attempting to kidnap an ex-girlfriend in Metro Detroit, saying he victimized a second woman, mounted a spy operation, shopped online for body bags and researched non-extradition countries.
Prosecutors leveled the new allegations in a federal court filing while fighting an attempt by George Mandarakas, 36, the former director of corporate relations at Notre Dame, to leave a federal detention center on bond ahead of a July 9 trial in a rare attempted kidnapping and stalking case in Detroit.
Prosecutors revealed photos of the kidnap kit they said Mandarakas amassed — including a gun, handcuffs, knife, stun gun and a map for sailing to Cuba — while alleging he tried to hack, track and abduct an ex-girlfriend in Trenton late last year.
"Mandarakas is pathologically deceptive, manipulative, and obsessive," Assistant U.S. Attorney Nhan Ho wrote in a court filing. "Mandarakas’s unyielding deception, his uncontrollable obsession with the victim, and his incomprehensible actions ... are substantial evidence of dangerousness. Mandarakas planned to kidnap and potentially kill the victim."
In opposing Mandarakas' request to leave federal custody, prosecutors disclosed a second woman they said was victimized by his "disturbing and threatening behaviors," revealed new allegations about Mandarakas' actions last year and divulged what they described as an incriminating internet history. That included:
∎ Shopping online for “body bags for dead bodies"
∎ Researching murder and rape penalties in Spain, Ireland, Greece and other countries
∎ Making a fugitive to-do list that included buying a boat with cash and obtaining a black-market bogus passport
∎ Researching "non-extradition" countries
The new details were prompted by a request from Mandarakas' lawyer, Barton Morris, trying to get the New Jersey resident released from the federal detention center in Milan. The resident of Randolph, New Jersey, has been incarcerated since his arrest in December.
Mandarakas is not dangerous and all prosecutors have shown is a “far-fetched scheme” and "cherry-picked" evidence, the defense lawyer wrote. He proposed releasing Mandarakas to live with his mother and said he could be ordered to wear a GPS tether, noting his client has two college degrees, no criminal record or history of violence, does not own a boat and has never sailed.
Morris wants Detroit U.S. District Judge Linda Parker to revoke a detention order filed by U.S. Magistrate Judge Kimberly Altman. The judge demonstrated a bias favoring prosecutors, the defense lawyer wrote.
"The defendant had dated and known the victim for at least four and a half years and there has never been an allegation that he was a dangerous person," Morris wrote. "There exist no allegations of harm, assault, abuse, or dangerousness."
A breakup and a wedding proposal
The case against Mandarakas is a rarity in Michigan. Only 22 people were convicted of federal kidnapping charges in Michigan from 2015-23, and the median sentence was more than 14 years, according to the U.S. Sentencing Commission. That group includes the 2020 case against four men convicted in federal court of plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
Mandarakas is charged with attempted kidnapping — a felony that carries a maximum 20-year sentence — and stalking, a five-year felony.
The criminal case describes the fallout from a soured relationship that started at the prestigious college and involves allegations of prolonged stalking, a hidden tracking device and a Christmas Day ruse involving the ex-girlfriend's family that ended with Mandarakas in handcuffs.
Mandarakas met the woman at Notre Dame in 2019. According to an online biography, public records and a LinkedIn profile, Mandarakas graduated from Notre Dame in 2009 with a degree in chemical engineering and, by 2019, was leading corporate fundraising for his alma mater.
Mandarakas, a married father, lied to the woman, now 27, telling her he was a student, prosecutors said. She ended the relationship in October after four-and-a-half years.
The split prompted Mandarakas to drive to Trenton from his home in New Jersey and send her numerous texts and try to call her, prosecutors said. She agreed to meet Mandarakas at an area park and reiterated that she did not want to have additional contact with him, an FBI agent wrote in a court affidavit that referred to the woman as "adult victim 1" or "AV-1."
"As AV-1 attempted to walk to her vehicle, Mandarakas blocked her path," the agent wrote. "AV-1 pushed Mandarakas out of the way and was able to get her driver’s door shut. Mandarakas attempted to grab a hold of the vehicle and did not let go until AV-1 started to drive away. Mandarakas then attempted to run after the vehicle for a short distance."
More than a month later, Mandarakas confronted the woman at a salon in Woodhaven, according to the government. The woman did not understand how Mandarakas could have known her location since they had not talked for almost two months, prosecutors allege.
"Mandarakas wedged his body in between the driver’s door so that (she) could not shut her driver’s (door)," the FBI agent wrote. "Mandarakas attempted to hug and kiss (her). (The woman) asked Mandarakas to leave her alone multiple times."
Then, he gave her a diamond ring and started to propose marriage, according to the government. Hours later, he confronted the woman at a Trenton bar, texted her "he would not stop until he had her back, and that he was going to marry her," and started sending gifts, including a laptop computer, prosecutors alleged.
Details on tracking device
On Wednesday, prosecutors revealed they had obtained a federal search warrant for Mandarakas' phone. His internet history showed Mandarakas searched last fall for how to install spyware and about the best place to install a GPS tracking device on a vehicle, according to the government.
Investigators said the victim and her family found a tracking device hidden inside the driver’s side bumper late last year after wondering how Mandarakas had managed to find her at the salon and bar.
That device helped the victim's family lure Mandarakas to St. Joseph's Church in Trenton on Christmas Day. Police arrived and arrested him.
Investigators searched his rental car and found more than $12,000 in Canadian and U.S. currency, cellphones, a second tracking device, advertisem*nts listing boats for sale, and sailing maps from New Jersey to Morocco and from Florida to Cuba, prosecutors said.
They also found what prosecutors described as an "on-the-run checklist." That list included an entry that read: "multiple burner phones. Don't activate until you are already on the run ..."
Another entry asked whether he could cross the Atlantic Ocean without refueling "my yacht." A third entry indicated he would change his name and dye and cut his hair, use cash to buy a sailboat and obtain a fake ID and passport, prosecutors said.
Defendant mom's car searched
Police also searched a Hyundai Elantra registered to Mandarakas' mother. Inside, they found the body bag, stun gun, map of South America, knife, zip ties, rope, handcuffs and field dressing gloves commonly used to remove internal organs and guts of deer and other game animals.
They also discovered three large plastic bags filled with sex toys, sex products and ovulation predictors. Also in the vehicle: a Glock handgun with two magazines and more than 700 rounds of ammunition, including some that fit the Glock, prosecutors said.
The defense lawyer argued prosecutors did not demonstrate that Mandarakas is a danger to the community or another person. Investigators found some of the items because Mandarakas was in the process of moving, Morris argued.
"It is reasonable to conclude that he believed he could talk her into leaving with him," the defense lawyer wrote.
"The government assertion that Mandarakas 'learned how to navigate a boat within the last few months' is absurd," Morris added. "So far, we have heard nothing that remotely evidences a substantial, overt act towards effectuating an intent to kidnap anyone."
Media coverage of the case prompted a second woman to contact law enforcement officers in early March, prosecutors said. The woman told investigators that after she had broken up with Mandarakas he excessively called and messaged her and threatened to kill her new boyfriend, the prosecutor wrote.
"This unsolicited report shows a pattern," Ho wrote. "Not only does it highlight the severity of Mandarakas’s offenses, but it also shows the continuing nature of Mandarakas’s troubling mindset and behaviors, and the palpable dangers he poses to the women he dated and the community."
Morris did not respond Monday to a message seeking comment.
But in his request for bond, he noted Mandarakas' wife, Stephanie, characterized him as "a very loving and docile man." She wrote an email to the court, explaining Mandarakas has never been violent toward her or their 3-year-old daughter.
"Before these events we were planning our future together, something which I would never do with someone I thought was ... 'dangerous,'" she wrote. "We had dreams of another child, properties in Greece, and more!"
rsnell@detroitnews.com
