Fugitive search underway for ex-Hogan chief of workers who allegedly stole $276,000

An interstate investigation is underway for a one-time chief of workers to former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan after he failed to seem in court docket on Monday, the US Marshals Service mentioned.

Roy C. McGrath, 53, who served as the highest aide to Hogan, a Republican, for a couple of months throughout the summer time of 2020, is going through costs in relation to an alleged scheme to bilk Maryland out of greater than $276,000.

McGrath has pleaded not responsible to all the costs and was launched on bond, the US Marshals Service mentioned in a press release Tuesday. He was as a result of seem in a federal court docket in Baltimore and is now thought of a “needed fugitive.”

The FBI executed a search warrant Wednesday at McGrath’s Naples, Florida, house, his lawyer, Joseph Murtha, instructed CNN. Murtha mentioned he’s “nonetheless unaware of [McGrath’s] whereabouts.”

McGrath was indicted by a federal grand jury in October 2021 on costs that he defrauded the Maryland Environmental Service, a state-operated company the place he served as government director earlier than becoming a member of Hogan’s workplace, of a $233,647.23 severance fee by “falsely telling them that the Governor was conscious of and accredited the fee,” the Justice Division mentioned.

The indictment additionally alleges that McGrath directed MES funds to an artwork museum on which he was a member of the board of administrators in order to keep away from paying for a pledge out of his personal pocket, defrauded MES to pay for a tuition expense of greater than $14,000 and falsified time sheets throughout two holidays.

McGrath was initially charged with wire fraud and embezzlement from a company receiving greater than $10,000 in federal advantages, and a superseding indictment returned in June 2022 additionally charged him with falsifying data. On the state degree, he’s going through felony theft costs and a violation of the state’s wiretap legislation, the Justice Division mentioned.

When he resigned from Hogan’s workplace in August 2020 amid inquiries in regards to the severance payout, McGrath blamed the “unhappy politics of non-public destruction” and mentioned he was stepping right down to keep away from “pointless distractions” to Hogan and his group.

McGrath faces many years in jail if he’s convicted of all the costs in opposition to him, although the Justice Division acknowledged that precise sentences are usually lower than the utmost penalties.

This story has been up to date with extra data.