Law enforcement officials at the federal level have spoken out to offer up a reward to the tune of $20,000 for information that leads to the capturing of former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan’s ex-chief of staff in the wake of failing to appear in court for an ongoing criminal trial.
Federal authorities have started the search for fugitive Roy McGrath a little over two weeks ago in the wake of his failure to show up for a trial about corruption held in Baltimore. Agents of both the U.S. Marshals Service and the FBI are now offering $10,000 each for any information which leads to the capture of McGrath.
Officials have stated that the man is to be considered an extreme international flight risk due to being born in Europe. McGrath also makes use of a number of aliases such as Roy Baisliadou and RC Mak-Grath.
Joseph Murtha, the attorney for McGrath stated that he was very worried about his client and was unsure of what was taking place.
“I haven’t a clue. I didn’t see this coming,” expressed Murtha. “This behavior is so out of the ordinary for him. Obviously his personal safety is a concern.”
53-year-old McGrath officially resigned as the chief of staff for Hogan back in 2020 in the wake of being accused of fraudulently securing a severance package totaling to a staggering sum of $233,648, which equates to a full year’s salary, from a previous job where he headed up the Maryland Environmental Service.
McGrath chose to plead not guilty to both federal wire fraud and theft charges. His appearance in court this past Monday morning was slated to start with an arraignment for a superseding indictment. State charges have accused him of illegally recording private conversations which were had with senior officials. If he is eventually convicted, McGrath could be looking at quite a few decades in prison.
McGrath has quite a long history in his career with Hogan, who once labeled McGrath as a “trusted advisor” and that he played a prime role in helping him create his administration once they secured the Maryland gubernatorial office back in 2014, as reported by the Washington Post.
Hogan, who stands a chance of being subpoenaed to be a witness in the case against McGrath, openly denies approving such a large severance package for McGrath. Murtha stated that McGrath “firmly stands by the fact that Governor Hogan formally approved of his compensation from Maryland Environmental Service, and sadly, turned his back on Mr. McGrath to avoid the political fall out of his decision.”
