Embezzlement suspect surrenders

Christine McClain-Sloan has been charged in a six-year theft scheme in which she is accused of stealing more than $700,000 from her former employer, Nagle & Zaller, P.C., a Columbia law firm.

Howard County Circuit Court Judge Dennis Sweeney granted McClain-Sloan?s request to return to her residence in Lexington, Ky., while awaiting her January trial date.

McClain-Sloan?s attorney, Michael Epstein, told the judge that his client, who has two children, turned herself in voluntarily and would not flee the country.

“She’s not going to up a run with these two children,” Epstein said.

McClain-Sloan also wanted to be near her “gravely ill” father in Kentucky who has a brain tumor, he said.

State’s Attorney Lynn Marshall opposed McClain-Sloan?s request, asking the judge to raise the set $75,000 bond substantially if he let her return to Kentucky.

“Based on everything we know about the defendant and her past behavior, we don’t trust her,” Marshall said. “For six years she was very manipulative.”

Marshall alleged the stolen money was used to improve McClain-Sloan?s homes in Maryland and possibly to purchase a new home in Kentucky.

The judge did not increase the bond but required McClain-Sloan to post $2,500 cash to the court clerk for any potential extraction fees.

“It is unfortunate that some people put into a position of trust choose to violate that trust – and the law – for monetary gain,” Nagle and Zaller said in a news release.

McClain-Sloan left the firm prior to an investigation by an insurance company. She now works on a thoroughbred horse farm in Kentucky.

THE STATE OF MARYLAND VS. CHRISTINE McCLAIN-SLOAN

Prosecutors alleged that McClain Sloan:

• Wrote checks on the firm’s accounts to benefit herself or her family .
• Made personal purchases with the firm’s credit card.
• Pocketed cash that was to be deposited into the firm’s accounts.

Source: May 2007 court documents

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