Former state government official Roy McGrath apparently had no plans to travel from his home in Florida to Baltimore last month for his federal fraud trial.

He didn’t buy a plane ticket or make a reservation to fly out on the morning of March 13, when he was due in federal court, FBI agents wrote in a search warrant unsealed Tuesday.

The new details suggest McGrath made no spur-of-the-moment decision to skip trial and take off on the run, but that he did not plan to stand trial that morning on charges of fraud, theft and falsifying records.

McGrath spent three weeks evading federal authorities before FBI agents confronted him April 3 outside of Knoxville, Tennessee. He died in what authorities are calling an “agent-involved shooting.” An investigation continues into his death, and it remains unclear if he died of suicide or was shot and killed by FBI agents.

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“I never had a belief that he had any intention but to appear for the trial,” said Joseph Murtha, McGrath’s attorney. “Between trial preparation, periodic communication, his coming up to see me, to look at the discovery in the case, I had never believed there would be a time when he would just not show up in court.”

READ MORE: Roy McGrath’s spiral from executive to fugitive was as puzzling as it was spectacular

According to the search warrant, FBI agents also interviewed McGrath’s wife, Laura Bruner, who told them she believed her husband left that morning to fly to Baltimore. The agents sought court approval to search the computers in the couple’s home in Naples, Florida. He had last checked in with authorities, as required, two weeks earlier, the agents wrote. Officials last visited him at the home in August of last year.

FBI agents wrote they wanted to seize any records related to McGrath’s travel arrangements, financial records including his bank account and credit card information, cellphones, computers and any evidence that McGrath may have attempted to change his appearance.

Questions continue to surround McGrath’s disappearance, his death and two e-books published online while he was missing that purport to share his account of the alleged crimes.

McGrath resigned as chief of staff to former Gov. Larry Hogan amid controversy over a payout of more than $233,000 that he negotiated when he transferred to the governor’s office from the state’s environmental service. An investigation found McGrath carried out a scheme to enrich himself personally by defrauding the government, according to prosecutors.

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A federal grand jury indicted McGrath in October 2021. He was also charged in Anne Arundel Circuit Court with misconduct in office, embezzlement and wiretapping. Prosecutors accused him of recording other government officials — including Hogan — without their consent.

He spent spent about four weeks on the run before his death, though his whereabouts during those weeks remain unknown. Two weeks into the manhunt, authorities offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.

With McGrath missing, a self-published e-book titled “Betrayed: The True Story of Roy McGrath” went on sale online. The unknown author, who gave the name “Ryan C. Cooper,” claimed the book was based on McGrath’s own manuscript and their interviews from previous months. The book jumped to No. 4 among Amazon’s 100 bestsellers in “Political Commentary & Opinion.”

A sequel published one week later recounted McGrath’s time at the Maryland Environmental Service. There’s been much speculation about the identity of the author, who had promised a third book.

The author has shown no activity online and not responded to phone calls or emails since last month.

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Reporter Justin Fenton contributed to this article.

tim.prudente@thebaltimorebanner.com

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