Jibran Manna

Introduction

Jibran “Jim” Manna, 65, is a Metro Detroit elected official who served as a trustee of West Bloomfield Township, Michigan, and resigned from that seat in October 2026 while facing criminal charges that he hid surveillance cameras in women’s bedrooms and bathrooms. He is charged with two counts of capturing an image of an unclothed person and five counts of installing a device for eavesdropping.

Background Information

West Bloomfield Township is a community of more than 65,000 residents in central Oakland County, and its trustees sit on the township’s governing board. Manna held one of those seats when the allegations against him reached police.

Because the accused was a sitting township official, the case was handled with unusual secrecy from the start. West Bloomfield Police Chief Dale Young said the allegations were reported to his department and, since Manna was a sitting official, the case was kept under wraps and referred right away to the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office for an independent investigation.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Charged; resigned from the township board. Manna faces seven criminal counts tied to hidden cameras and resigned roughly two months after being charged.

According to the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office, two women found surveillance cameras hidden in smoke detectors in their bedrooms. A search of Manna’s home, office and cell phone turned up additional cameras, and prosecutors said Manna’s cell phone contained nude surveillance videos recorded from the women’s bedrooms and bathrooms. His court file lists the offense date as April 13, 2025.

The prosecutor’s office authorized the criminal charges in August 2026: two counts of capturing an image of an unclothed person, each punishable by up to five years in prison, and five counts of installing a device for eavesdropping, each carrying up to two years. Manna waived his right to a preliminary exam in the 48th District Court, and the case was bound over to Oakland County Circuit Court on October 1.

Manna’s resignation letter was submitted by his attorney, Mitchell Ribitwer, and accepted by the Board of Trustees during a special township board meeting on October 7, about two months after he was charged. “I have made this decision so that personal and pending legal matters do not distract from the important work of the Township, and because I believe it is in the best interest of my family and my personal well-being,” the letter stated, in part. It added: “My resignation should not be construed as an admission or as reflecting upon the merits of any pending matter. Those issues will be addressed through the appropriate legal process.”

Public Reaction and Consequences

The township accepted the resignation at a special meeting and filled the procedural gap it left, but the criminal case carries the heavier consequences: seven felony-class counts, nude surveillance footage of two women recovered from his phone, and a felony case now moving through Oakland County Circuit Court. The charges were authorized by prosecutors, not yet tested at trial, and Manna’s own letter stressed that nothing in his departure should be read as an admission.

The secrecy surrounding the early investigation — a police chief deliberately keeping a case against his township’s own trustee out of local hands — became part of the story once the charges surfaced, illustrating how conflict-of-interest handling works when the accused sits on the board himself.

Current Status

Manna is out of custody on a personal bond. His next court appearance is scheduled for December 1, 2026, for a pretrial hearing before Judge Jacob Cunningham in Oakland County Circuit Court. He is no longer a West Bloomfield Township trustee; the charges remain pending and unadjudicated.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The trusteeship is gone, resigned by letter through his attorney the moment the criminal case caught up with his public role. The seven counts he faces carry a combined maximum exposure measured in years — up to five per capturing-image count and two per eavesdropping-device count — and the recovered videos mean the evidentiary record in the case includes footage of the women themselves. At 65, the career being contested in court is no longer his township seat but his liberty, and the December pretrial hearing is the next date on which either trajectory can move.

Sources

• The Oakland Press via The Morning Sun, “Charged in hidden camera case, downstate leader resigns,” November 7, 2026. source