Anne Arundel County’s register of wills, Erica Griswold, on Tuesday pleaded guilty to misconduct in office stemming from her cashing of a $6,645 cashier’s check intended for her office, according to a news release from the state prosecutor’s office.
Griswold was indicted in January by a county grand jury on charges of misconduct in office, misappropriation by a fiduciary and theft.
Circuit Court Stacy W. McCormack accepted the plea and set sentencing for July 18, according to the news release.
“Government officials are expected to be good stewards of the public funds entrusted to them,” State Prosecutor Charlton T. Howard said, according to the release. “Our agency strives to hold individuals in positions of public trust accountable if they violate that trust for personal gain.”
Neither Griswold nor her attorney, Peter O’Neill, could immediately be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon.
According to the news release, the Register of Wills office on June 16 received a $6,645 check made payable to Griswold “for the purpose of satisfying an invoice from the Office for payment of non-probate inheritance tax.”
Griswold admitted that she falsely informed the mail processor that she had been expecting the check, leading them to believe it was a check for Griswold in her personal capacity, according to the news release. She went on to cash the $6,645 check at a Chase Bank in Annapolis on June 22, 2023, and kept the money.
In August, the check’s issuer contacted her office to ask why he was still getting invoices for $6,645 due in inheritance tax, which he thought he had paid.
Prosecutors said Griswold was informed that day of the issuer’s inquiry, and subsequently notified on several occasions of the importance of repaying the funds to the state. Griswold repaid the money on Feb. 23, nearly a month after the grand jury returned an indictment against her, the news release states.
The Register of Wills office said it had no immediate comment.
Griswold, a Democrat, was elected in 2022. With her swearing in that December, she became the first Black person to assume the post in its 246-year history.
The news release said her annual salary is about $146,118 a year.
