Maynard official charged with stealing $500k while on probation for earlier theft

UNDERCOVER - It's déjà vu all over again for Maynard town official Timothy McDaid, who was arraigned Tuesday on charges that he stole $500,000 from the town's retirement kitty while still on probation for stealing from an autism charity he worked for.

McDaid was the administrator for the Maynard Retirement Board from 2007 until earlier this month, paid $60,000 a year for working four days a week there. But prosecutors say he's been writing checks to himself since at least 2010 from the retirement fund – 128 in all totaling $521,573.

The alleged thefts occurred while McDaid was being prosecuted for stealing $170,000 from the Asberger's Association of New England, where he worked as a bookkeeper. He was indicted in November 2010 in Middlesex Superior Court and pleaded guilty in November 2011 to charges of larceny over $250, forgery of a check and falsifying or omitting entry in books.

At his arraignment Tuesday in Concord District Court, Assistant District Attorney Doug Nagengast called the alleged Maynard theft "egregious" not only because of the amount stolen but also how it was used.

"As part of his sentence for that case he was ordered to pay restitution, including a large lump sum. Records show that just days before making a $75,000 payment to the probation department in 2011, he wrote a check to himself for $82,000 that was drawn on this account from the Maynard retirement system," Nagengast said.

A not guilty plea was entered on McDaid's behalf. He's being held on $500,000 cash bail, but even if he posts that he could be sent to jail for violating his probation from the charity theft.

In court, his defense attorney said McDaid has been struggling with a painkiller addiction since 2006 and has a bed waiting for him in a detox facility.

The chairman of the Maynard Retirement System, Robert W. Larkin, wouldn't talk to FOX Undercover on camera about how the board missed McDaid's earlier conviction and allowed him to keep working. He did release a statement saying a review is underway, but that didn't address the oversight.

A spokeswoman for the Middlesex District Attorney's office says prosecutors didn't know until McDaid's 2011 sentencing that he worked for the town, and then only that he was a "contract employee" for Maynard.
        
Normally, the District Attorney's office will tell a municipality if a defendant is employed by a city or town, and spokeswoman Jessica Pastore admitted it was an oversight that prosecutors didn't notify Maynard when they learned in 2011 of his employment.

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