Federal authorities announced a manhunt Tuesday for Roy McGrath — a onetime chief of staff to former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) — after McGrath failed to appear in a Baltimore court on Monday for a series of fraud charges that could land him in prison for decades if he’s convicted.
The U.S. Marshals Service of Baltimore “has initiated an interstate fugitive investigation,” the Marshals tweeted Tuesday. “It is now seeking to apprehend the former Maryland governor’s top aide after he failed to appear in court on Monday, March 13.”
McGrath was indicted in October 2021 for allegedly defrauding the Maryland Environmental Service of $233,647. He had assured the MES that Hogan, who appointed him to head the state-run firm in 2016, had approved the sum as severance.
McGrath was also accused of wiring funds from the MES to an art museum whose board of directors he sat on. He allegedly used the funds for a related pledge and more than $14,000 in tuition, and falsified time sheets for two vacations while heading the MES.
In an October 2021 release, the Justice Department said McGrath had “personally enriched himself” from March 2019 to December 2020. In June 2022, the Justice Department updated the amount of defrauded funds to $276,731 and additionally accused McGrath of recording conversations with senior state officials.
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Charged with wire fraud, theft in programs receiving federal funds, falsification of records in federal investigations and violating the state wiretap law, McGrath pleaded not guilty and was released under the conditions that he surrender his passport and return to court when ordered.
Joseph Murtha, McGrath’s attorney, told various news outlets that he had no information about his client’s whereabouts. “It is my hope that he is safe and that we will have an opportunity to speak to one another in the near future,” he told NBC News.
Hogan hired McGrath as deputy chief of staff in 2015 before he appointed him to run MES the following December. McGrath returned as Hogan’s chief of staff in June 2020, but he resigned in August when reports of his fraudulent severance emerged.
“It is with regret that I have accepted Roy McGrath’s resignation as chief of staff,” Hogan said in a statement at the time. “Roy has been a deeply valued member of our administration, and our state is better for his dedicated service … I have always known Roy to be someone of the highest character, and I wish him well in his future endeavors.”
“For me, this entire topic is simply the sad politics of personal destruction,” McGrath said in his own statement, “and right now, we cannot afford unnecessary distractions from the critical work the governor and his team are doing.”
McGrath was indicted more than a year after his resignation as Hogan’s chief of staff. Now a wanted fugitive, he faces multiple decades behind bars if convicted on all counts.