After a 21-day manhunt, fugitive Roy C. McGrath has been found dead following a confrontation with the FBI.
Roy C. McGrath was ex-chief of staff to Larry Hogan, former governor of Maryland.
He was being put on trial for indictments of wire fraud, theft or bribery, and destruction, alteration, or falsification of record charges. The charges stemmed from when he was head of the Maryland Environmental Service, which he ran before he became a top aide to Larry Hogan in June 2020.
Mcgrath was also facing fraud and embezzlement charges in relation to tens of thousands of dollars in expenses, as well as his failure to take vacation time while visiting Florida, Spain, France, and Italy.
In October 2021, McGrath pleaded not guilty to all charges and had been released pre-trial on the condition that he showed up to all scheduled court dates. Had he been convicted of those charges, he was looking at three decades behind bars.
Following a failure to appear in federal court on March 13th in Baltimore, the FBI considered the 53-year-old as an international flight risk. This resulted in a nearly month-long manhunt and now the loss of McGrath’s life.
Once he missed his trial date a few weeks ago, a federal judge issued an arrest warrant out for McGrath. A manhunt began as the FBI was offering an award of up to $10,000 for information on his whereabouts. The U.S. Marshals Service also offered a reward for his arrest.
On Monday, around 6:30 pm, McGrath was spotted in the Knoxville area of Tennessee, which had several law enforcement personnel rushing to the scene. He was somehow injured during his arrest and was taken to the hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
The full details of McGrath’s death are not clear yet, but we do know for sure that he died from injuries he sustained while being captured by law enforcement. The incident remains under investigation by the FBI’s Inspection Division.
