BRECKENRIDGE, Colo.-
A Breckenridge lawyer reported missing by his friends is now a wanted man after police issued an arrest warrant Wednesday, saying he could have stolen as much as $1 million from his clients.
Royal “Scoop” Daniel, 61, was last seen on April 27. He was reported missing after he failed to show up for appointments, prompting both authorities and friends to launch searches for him.
But since then, seven people have called police to report that Daniel was holding money from real estate sales for them, according to the arrest affidavit.
Deposits from four of them total about $562,000 while Daniel only has about $230,000 deposited in his bank accounts, police said. It wasn’t immediately clear how much money the other callers said Daniel was holding.
“The more that we have looked into this case and the more that we have done, what we’re finding is there is evidence … that Mr. Daniel was involved in criminal activity,” Breckenridge Police Chief Rick Holman said during a news conference.
Investigators also found that Daniel had gotten a new passport in December 2006 and stated on his application that it was for “travel in last April 2007.” They have not been able to find his passport after searching his office, car or house.
State judicial regulators have moved to revoke Daniel’s license. John Gleason, a lawyer for the state Supreme Court’s attorney regulation office, said he believed more missing money would likely be reported.
“My concern is that it will be as high as $1 million,” said Gleason, whose office began investigating over the weekend.
According to the arrest affidavit, Gene Gregory of Franktown told police that Daniel held $250,000 in trust for him from a real estate transaction but Daniel told him he didn’t have the money when he asked for it a year ago. After pressing him, Gregory said Daniel told him he had used Gregory’s money to repay other people’s trust money and could repay him after getting more trust money.
Gregory said Daniel told him he was $300,000 in debt but that Daniel repaid him over the course of three months.
According to the affidavit, Daniel’s girlfriend, Jennifer Rathbun, said she was serving as his personal banker at US Bank and had tried to get him a line of credit there. She said he was turned down because of his high credit card debt and tax liens and that he had made “questionable Web transfers.”
Rathbun also told investigators that she last saw Daniel the morning of April 27 and that he gave her his favorite running suit and snow boots, saying he wouldn’t be needing them for awhile, a long with a key to his home, which he usually kept unlocked.
Daniel’s assistant told police she found a notice in the recycling bin saying that he was behind on his child support payments.
