(PatrioticPost.com)- An arrest warrant was issued earlier this week for one of the top staffers for the former governor of Maryland, after he didn’t show up for his own trial.
Roy McGrath – who once served as the chief of staff for Larry Hogan, the former governor Maryland – was due to attend federal court to face charges of fraud and embezzlement that have been brought against him, but he didn’t show up. That prompted the federal judge in Baltimore to issue a warrant for his arrest.
Through May of 2020, McGrath served as the head of the Maryland Environmental Service. He’s been accused of using in excess of $200,000 of the MES’ funds and then paying himself with that money.
The Department of Justice has also said that McGrath made multiple false statements to his boss, Hogan, as well as the board of the MES. He is also accused of recording private conversations that he had with some state officials illegally.
Once McGrath didn’t show up for his scheduled court appearance, the judge immediately issued the arrest warrant.
The jury was excused for the day once it was revealed that McGrath wasn’t going to show up. As his lawyer, Joseph Murtha, told the judge and the jury when that happened:
“I was looking forward to seeing him in person here at 8:45 a.m.”
Murtha told the court that when he spoke to his client, he was told that he would be traveling on Sunday evening to Maryland to make his court appearance.
The DOJ has said that McGrath has been charged with multiple federal crimes, including falsifying a document, embezzling funds from an organization receiving federal benefits (two counts) and wire fraud (five counts).
Each of the five charges for wire fraud, as well as the charge for falsifying documents, carry with them the potential of 20 years behind bars. The charges for embezzlement each carry with them maximum sentences of 10 years behind bars.
The Baltimore Sun reported that last November, McGrath decided to plead not guilty to all of the federal charges that have been levied against him. In addition to the federal charges, he’s also facing Maryland state charges that include felony wiretapping and theft. Each of those charges could also result in McGrath facing time behind bars in state prison.
In May of 2020, McGrath resigned as the director of the MES so that he could serve as Hogan’s new chief of staff. He only remained there for a few months, though, as he resigned from that post in August of 2020.
Other local Maryland publications have reported that Hogan is expected to serve as a witness in the federal trial against McGrath.
Hogan himself announced recently that he wouldn’t be running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024. Appearing on the CBS program “Face the Nation” recently, he said:
“I was struggling, because my heart was telling me to run. My head was telling me no, that this does not make sense for a whole host of reasons. My gut was flipping back and forth. So it really came down to: If I wasn’t 100% convinced, then I shouldn’t do it.”
