PerfectData Chairman Steps Down Pending Inquiry : Management: Lee R. Mannheimer is a suspect in a murder-for-hire plot directed at his estranged wife.

Lee R. Mannheimer, the chairman and chief executive of PerfectData Corp., has stepped down pending an investigation by law enforcement officials into his possible role in an alleged, and unsuccessful, murder-for-hire plot against his estranged wife.

The Simi Valley-based computer products company said in a statement last Friday that Mannheimer informed the board of directors that he would “voluntarily and temporarily step down as chairman and has asked Joseph Mazin to assume the position until such time as these accusations are resolved.”

Mazin is chief executive of Flamemaster Corp., a Sun Valley-based sealant and coating manufacturer that owns 28.4% of PerfectData’s stock.

State and Ventura County prosecutors say that Mannheimer is under investigation. Lee Mannheimer has denied any role in a plot to kill his wife, Linda Mannheimer, and says he has also been the victim of a murder threat.

In a telephone interview, Mazin said he couldn’t predict under what circumstances Mannheimer would return to the company. “That’s up to the board of directors.”

Mazin also said the developments regarding Mannheimer would not affect PerfectData’s operations, or Flamemaster’s relationship with the company. Mannheimer has led PerfectData for seven years.

Another PerfectData employee that Placer County prosecutors said is a target of their investigation into the alleged murder plot was sales executive Anthony Francis Gigliotti. Gigliotti has not been removed from his post, Mazin said. “The board is waiting for a statement from him.”

Although the case began in Sacramento, the investigation now includes Placer, Contra Costa and Ventura counties. Because it involves several jurisdictions, the case is also being handled by the California Department of Justice.

Last Tuesday, prosecutors and sheriff’s officials in Sacramento said that a tip from an informant helped them uncover a plot to kill Linda Mannheimer. The Mannheimers are involved in divorce battle and custody dispute over their 3-year-old son.

The informant said he had been offered $10,000 to kill a woman in Southern California, and had been given photographs of the woman and details about her schedule, sheriff’s officials said. They said they used the information to foil an attempt on Linda Mannheimer’s life, which was to have been carried out in mid-August.

One suspect, John Herbert Judd Jr., a Placer County electronics technician whom Gigliotti’s attorney has identified as a business associate of Gigliotti, is free on $50,000 bail and awaits a preliminary hearing in November on charges of solicitation to commit murder.

In a sheriff’s report, Judd was named as a middleman who offered an informant money to kill Linda Mannheimer. Judd has pleaded not guilty.

Gigliotti was arrested in Contra Costa County in August on suspicion that he was involved in the alleged plot, but no charges were filed and he was released. Placer County prosecutors say Gigliotti is under investigation, but that a decision was made not to file formal charges until it could be determined which county would have jurisdiction.

Gigliotti, who joined PerfectData in June, 1992, after his computer accessories business was acquired by the Simi Valley company, has also denied he was part of a murder conspiracy. His attorney said Gigliotti contacted Judd, who in turn contacted the FBI informant. But the purpose was not to have Linda Mannheimer killed, the attorney said, but merely to try to get some information about her for Lee Mannheimer.

The news last week had no apparent impact on PerfectData’s stock, which has failed to top $2 a share all year. The stock rose about five cents a share, to $1.50, last Wednesday when the investigation was reported.

PerfectData’s press release credited Mannheimer with boosting sales by focusing more on consumer-oriented products. The company markets computer, office-care and maintenance products.

In its fiscal year ended March 31, PerfectData earned $514,000, a 23% decline from $669,000 in net income a year before. Its annual revenue edged up to $8.1 million from $7.8 million. In its fiscal first quarter ended June 30, it lost $54,000 on a 15% decline in revenue to $1.66 million.

Flamemaster last week told the Securities and Exchange Commission that it may continue to buy PerfectData shares and may acquire a controlling interest in the company.