Allegedly on the Lam for 5 Years with Up to $1M in Client Funds, Colo. Lawyer Is Arrested in Calif.
Updated: A Colorado real estate lawyer who disappeared nearly five years ago after allegedly stealing up to $1 million in client funds has been arrested in California as he was crossing the border into the U.S. from Mexico.
Royal “Scoop” Daniel III is being held at the San Diego Central Jail in lieu of $175,000 bail while he awaits an extradition hearing scheduled for today, the Summit Daily reports.
He is facing “placeholder” felony charges of theft and commercial bribery, but more charges could be added to the case, an official tells the newspaper.
It isn’t known where Daniel has been during the past five years.
“We are operating under a number of theories, and the idea that he ran with the proceeds from his criminal act is not farf-etched,” assistant police chief Greg Morrison of Breckenridge, Colo., told the Summit Daily after Daniel disappeared. “He was operating under a house of cards, moving all this money around, and he must have seen that the house of cards was about to crumble.”
Today’s newspaper article doesn’t include any comment from Daniel or his legal counsel.
A subsequent KUSA-TV news article provides additional details.
Earlier coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Lawyer Suspected of Client Fraud Missing for Nearly a Year”
Last updated at 6:46 p.m. to link to subsequent KUSA article.
