KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Three suspects in the death of Kansas City sports reporter Adan Manzano pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and racketeering charges after the Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s Office formally filed charges against a New Orleans woman and two men accused of drugging and stealing from tourists for more than a decade.

On Friday, Danette Colbert, Rickey White and Christian Anderson were remanded to Jefferson Parish Prison, where they have been since their arrests, and are scheduled back in court on Sept. 8.

Colbert, 48, and Anderson, 33, are each being held on a $350,000 bond. White, 34, is being held without bond. The suspects could be sentenced up to 50 years in prison for racketeering and up to 40 years for manslaughter if convicted.

Colbert allegedly lured victims to hotels and other private residences acting as a prostitute or “party girl,” promising sexual relations to victims, according to the district attorney. White was her pimp, records say, and found clients and provided Colbert with security while assisting in stealing from victims.

Anderson allegedly acted as a prostitute and administrator who provided support and obtained drugs that Colbert used on her victims, according to the district attorney’s office.

Manzano, 27, 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. Manzano was found unresponsive in his Comfort Suites hotel room in Kenner, Louisiana, on Feb. 5.

Officials said Manzano was found face down on a pillow and ruled his cause of death was the combined toxic effects of Xanax and alcohol, as well as “positional asphyxia.”

Victim of criminal enterprise

The Jefferson Parish District Attorney’s office alleges that Manzano and Colbert met in the French Quarter of New Orleans on the day of his death and Colbert drove Manzano back to his hotel after they had drinks. Manzano became unconscious at some point when they were at his hotel and Colbert allegedly took pictures of his driver’s license and financial cards, according to the district attorney.

Colbert sent a text of what she believed was Manzano’s pin to White and attempted to withdraw cash from an ATM in New Orleans, according to the district attorney. When she couldn’t get cash, Colbert called Anderson.

On the day before Manzano’s death, records show texts between Colbert and Anderson regarding payment for rental cars in New Orleans, according to the district attorney. Colbert texted Anderson a pin number on the day of Manzano’s death. It was the last text between the two before Colbert’s arrest, according to the district attorney’s office.

Security video allegedly shows the two at his hotel between 4:30 a.m. and 5 a.m. on the morning of his death and she could be seen leaving alone, according to the district attorney.

The district attorney’s office say the suspects and other unknown parties had run this scheme dating back to 2012. Authorities cited nearly 20 incidents since 2012 where the suspects allegedly stole from victims in the French Quarter, and at strip clubs, hotels and grocery stores.

After White and Colbert were arrested, Anderson texted an associate about Colbert and White on April 27, according to the DA.

“The police took her phone and seen her messages,” the text messages said. “Him and her was texting that night back and forth and he was helping her and he knew it so that’s why he ran ... to Florida to try to be on the run.” White was arrested in Hollywood, Florida on March 27.

“They found him by tracking his phone,” the text reads. “It all came out in his court date and everyone was looking dumb for tryna call her a rat cuz he got himself caught plus he telling her on the jail phone where he was going.”

Anderson, who was arrested on May 30, also expressed remorse for Colbert and Manzano in a text, according to the DA.

“I feel bad for her to an extent but I feel more bad for her family if anything,” he said. “I also feel bad for the man ... To make it even worse she did all that just to be paying Rickey and having him back as her pimp.”

Colbert was sentenced to 25 years in prison in Orleans Parish in May, after a judge revoked her probation in a similar but unrelated case.

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.

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