Dr. Manning, Ph.D. An Academic Fraud

May 31, 2009 at 6:25 pm · Filed under Achill Island, Checkpoint Ireland, Checkpoint Press, Checkpoint Services, Cyber Bullying, Diggory Press, Exposure Publishing, Manning, self publishing, Stephen T Manning

“Dr. Manning, Ph.D.” (STM), the man who has made several innocent people’s lives hell over the last few years by going after them, harassing them and smearing them with false accusations – his latest victim the Christian blogger, Miriam Franklin at Endtimespropheticwords (ETPW) – makes misrepresentations about what his academic qualifications are.

STM is obviously aware that calling himself a Doctor and putting a Ph.D. after his name gives him an air of credibility and intelligence, earning himself respect he wouldn’t otherwise get. It makes it seem he knows what he’s talking about. And it makes people trust him more. But STM is a fake and doesn’t deserve either the public’s trust or respect.

STM is not a real doctor. STM doesn’t have a doctorate from an accredited academic institution. He bought his combined masters degree and doctorate from a notorious American diploma mill in Hawaii so he therefore technically and ethically shouldn’t use the titles ‘Dr’ or ‘Ph.D’ by his name. But STM does use the titles frequently, showing off his alleged Ph.D status in every comment he leaves in his own name on the net. I say “in his own name” as he also posts things without admitting he’s the author.

STM boasts of his academic prowess on his Checkpoint and Color Of Truth websites where he attempts to profit by selling his teaching / academic / editorial / publishing services. (e.g. Dr Manning’s education services http://color-of-truth.com/checkpoint/Pricelist.pdf) In addition to claiming to be “Holder of a PhD in Counseling Psychology, (and) a Masters in Comparative Religions” STM claims to be an “adjunct university professor” who has “taught business ethics at University level“, and a “qualified Christian minister”.

Now resettled in Ireland STM says he:

“continues his research and writing whilst developing Checkpoint Services; offering specialised instruction, support, and guidance services at college, university, and post-graduate levels.”

STM boasts expertise in numerous fields – too many fields to be believable. As can be shown, his claim to have expertise in “print on demand publishing” is a complete joke bearing in mind his ignorance to date on this subject as shown in all the ludicrous allegations he’s made to date against Diggory Press, a print on demand publisher.

STM claims to be an “expert” at virtually everything, yet a click on the links  by his offered services at color-of-truth.com/checkpoint leaves the discerning enquirer laughing their socks off. These supposed ‘qualifications’ and ‘testimonials’  link to shoddy looking posters advertising his services – looking very tired and as if they’ve been knocked up on a home computer with cheap clipart a few decades old. These posters are supposed to be a testimonial to what exactly?! That he fly-posted his Teaching English as a Second Language services in Okinawa City, Japan?

For his sports instruction services, STM has this link ski-instructor testimonial Olympics application. He considers that’s a testimonial?! (Oh go on, that IS funny!)

The other ‘testimonials’ paint him as a jack of all trades and master of none, never seeming to have settled anywhere in any job for long. The best references he can supply from a stream of short term jobs or volunteer positions, usually a long way away, never a good sign for a middle-aged man.

Ste Manning claims to be a doctor, yet doesn’t have a genuine doctorate from a genuine university. Even when STM’s publicly called on this fact (including in court), he doesn’t retract. He puts opposition down by giving his “professional” opinion (as a “Doctor in Counselling Psychology”) about people’s mental and emotional states  – a dangerous game – and tells even more lies, accusing the people pointing important facts out about him as being people seeking to destroy his credibility. But the guy doesn’t have any credibility.

However much STM attempts to put up a smokescreen, the truth cannot be avoided, the guy is a fraud and someone who’s life is surrounded by lies. This deception about his academic qualifications is dishonest, immoral, unethical, and depending on location, it’s also illegal to fraudulently use the title of ‘doctor’ or ‘Ph.D.’ in association with one’s name – expecially in a field like counselling psychology.

Somebody in the same field as STM, psychology, was prosecuted under Florida state law for falsely claiming to be a Dr when he’d got his qualification from a diploma mill just like STM. (link)

As Inquisitor has also wisely pointed out –

“If Stephen had any professional clout or ethics, he would refrain from making diagnosis about ms franklin’s mental state of health over internet. His lengthy repetitive ranting and petty name calling makes me wonder if he himself is entirely rational.”

Inquisitor added:

“When someone misrepresents themselves to such an extent it makes me very sceptical of any other unsupported ‘facts’ presented.”

Exactly right, this deception is only part of a much bigger picture.

As well as the deception as to his identity and academic abilities and educational services, fraudulent goods are being sold. His books, The Color of Truth, (ironic title given the author) and Psychology, Symbolism and The Sacred, offered for sale in the UK and the USA – including in Florida and Maine etc where making false claims as to academic title is illegal – clearly imply the author has a genuine Ph.D. Therefore the book-buying public are being defrauded, which is no small thing.

Doctorates can be instantly bought online for as little as a fifty dollar “offering” as per this site (link) and numerous other such sites around the web. The only effort needed being the click of the mouse and typing in your credit card details. It seems STM paid a bit more than 50 dollars for his doctorate, and expended a bit more effort, but it still doesn’t make his doctorate any more valid.

Here’s what Manning, (not a Dr, not a Ph.D., not even a M.A.) is claiming about his alleged “Interview Skills and Psychology certification” at his website (link) –

The certificate shows that on the 10th March 2003 STM got his “Doctor of Philosophy in Counselling Psychology” from Cambridge State University, Honolulu, Hawaii.

What he doesn’t tell is that Cambridge State University is one of the more notorious non accredited “academic” institutions – in other words, it’s a diploma mill. You can read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_State_University

Holy Smoke said:

“Diploma Mills are a big problem in the United States.

The 2003 Florida Statutes (link)

Title XLVI
CRIMES Chapter 817
FRAUDULENT PRACTICES

817.567 Making false claims of academic degree or title.–

(1) No person in the state may claim, either orally or in writing, to possess an academic degree, as defined in s. 1005.02, or the title associated with said degree, unless the person has, in fact, been awarded said degree from an institution that is:

(a) Accredited by a regional or professional accrediting agency recognized by the United States Department of Education or the Commission on Recognition of Postsecondary Accreditation;

(b) Provided, operated, and supported by a state government or any of its political subdivisions or by the Federal Government;

(c) A school, institute, college, or university chartered outside the United States, the academic degree from which has been validated by an accrediting agency approved by the United States Department of Education as equivalent to the baccalaureate or postbaccalaureate degree conferred by a regionally accredited college or university in the United States;

(d) Licensed by the 1State Board of Independent Colleges and Universities pursuant to ss. 1005.01-1005.38 or exempt from licensure pursuant to 2s. 246.085; or

(e) A religious seminary, institute, college, or university which offers only educational programs that prepare students for a religious vocation, career, occupation, profession, or lifework, and the nomenclature of whose certificates, diplomas, or degrees clearly identifies the religious character of the educational program.

(2) No person awarded a doctorate degree from an institution not listed in subsection (1) shall claim in the state, either orally or in writing, the title “Dr.” before the person’s name or any mark, appellation, or series of letters, numbers, or words, such as, but not limited to, “Ph.D.,” “Ed.D.,” “D.N.,” or “D.Th.,” which signifies, purports, or is generally taken to signify satisfactory completion of the requirements of a doctorate degree, after the person’s name.

(3)(a) A person who violates the provisions of subsection (1) or subsection (2) commits a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.

(b) In addition to any penalty imposed under paragraph (a), a violator shall be subject to any other penalty provided by law, including, but not limited to, suspension or revocation of the violator’s license or certification to practice an occupation or profession.

History.–s. 2, ch. 89-40; s. 32, ch. 94-310; s. 1039, ch. 2002-387.

1 Note.–Section 246.031, which created the State Board of Independent Colleges and Universities, was repealed by s. 1058, ch. 2002-387.

2 Note.–Repealed by s. 1058, ch. 2002-387. Similar material is now found at s. 1005.32.

Here’s the law in Maine.

Maine Revised Statute Title 20-A, Chapter 410:FALSE ACADEMIC DEGREES OR CERTIFICATES (link)”

It’s not as if STM doesn’t know. One of STM’s online rants from September 2004 was blasting Maxine Asher, the president of WAUC, the host accrediting agency for Cambridge State “University.” (link)

You can see STM’s self serving logic expressed at that website, where despite knowing his vanity diploma mill school was a crock and not for real, and admitting elsewhere (see link), to being told on at least three occasions by Cambridge State University the way it was, STM still expected the New York school he wanted to go to next to make a special exception for him and accept his illegitimate “qualifications” gained from CSU because – wait for it – they knew him previously!

In his own little world, STM justifies himself because he says C.S.U. was a good school because he went there, he thinks he studied hard and deserves a doctorate and is worthy of it, and he had life credits (a sure sign of a vanity diploma mill is when they give you loads of credits for life experience). STM says his previous studies at U.T.S. (linked to the Moonies) an institution which was “formally-accredited” were “easier to complete, and the standards notably laxer” Note also that  STM says he studied at “a fully-accredited N.Y. Seminary at the Masters level, not that he necessarily was awarded a doctorate from that same seminary – as his masters was done in conjunction with the unaccredited CSU.

STM to further justify why he thinks he can say he’s got a real doctorate when he does not, explains:

“… in regards to ‘getting something for nothing…’; I paid several thousand dollars and worked very hard for nearly two years before completing the WAUC degree… almost completely on my own cognicance, usually studying between 10 and 16 hours a day. And whilst you might argue that such effort was not required perhaps… and maybe even not expected… I can say with confidence and a clear conscience that I ‘earned’ that d-l degree.”

So he’s got a real doctorate, really, and he’s the judge of that and we should agree. Saying it with “confidence and a clear conscience”? Only in his delusional world!

STM also doesn’t see the contradictions in ranting one minute against a degree mill who uses unqualified staff to grade papers after one day on the job, while still claiming himself to be a doctor accredited by the same institution!

Someone replying to his rant about Maxine Asher/WAUC (someone who says he’s a real life life detective) (link) rightly called it and said to STM –

“Your claims are unwarranted because you should have known that credits from an agency not recognized by the US Dept. of Education are NOT transferable, Nor can one apply for and receive studentloans. Just because you did not get what you wanted, you conducted your biased, ‘half-assed’ investigation, which served your needs. Just because you did not get what you wanted, you conducted your biased, ‘half-assed’ investigation, which served your needs. And now you want to play crusader for the rest of the world. Not only are your comments biased & self serving, they may only have a modicum of truth.”

This sounds like exactly what happened with Diggory Press and PageFree, according to both of their testimonies. They say he did not give STM what he unreasonably demanded from them, and he consequently began crusading against them.

One can also see the lies and contradictions (compare his pathetic excuses below as to not knowing C.S.U. was unaccredited, with what he said about he knew it was not, and was told it was not, but he thought the NY school would accept his qualifications from C.S.U. as they ‘knew’ him) –

“… let me respectfully clarify that I was an immigrant to the US, and therefore had no understanding of the unique American accreditation debate until I took a moral stand on the issue (to my own considerable cost both financially and in terms of reputation – as you have just demonstrated). Maybe it was foolish; but I had presumed that formal legislation was in place (as in most civilized countries) to protect the prospective consumer-student, and that any institution calling itself both a ‘University’ and ‘Fully Accredited’ formally registered and doing business from US territory simply MUST be bona-fide… especially when read in conjunction with the ambitious claims of Mrs. Asher on the WAUC website.”

What baloney!

STM claims Maxine Asher is “under investigation by the FBI” (again this sounds all too familar, he’s said the same about the other women he’s targetted) because – wait for it – STM reported her to the FBI. Reporting someone to the police/bureau, and the police following it up and investigating it are NOT the same things.

STM makes many personal claims about Maxine Asher, and anyone who’s been following STM’s rants against the women at Diggory Press, PageFree Publishing and ETPW will note similarities in what STM says about the person of Maxine Asher. She’s also delusional and criminally insane etc. It seems to be a copy and paste smear tactic.

The detective says of STM’s “hateful, obsessive behavior” –

“WE IN THE LAW ENFORCEMENT COMMUNITY REFER TO PEOPLE LIKE YOU AS 10-37’S THAT’S LINGO FOR PSY.”

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