Former GOP treasurer admits embezzling $844,000

Christopher J. Ward, 41, formerly of Bethesda, pleaded guilty in federal court in the District to interstate transportation of stolen property. Under the plea agreement, prosecutors will seek a 37-month prison term and Ward will have to pay back his victims.

Ward, once a trusted figure in Republican circles who had served as treasurer for 83 GOP committees in a decade, funneled the money from committee coffers over seven years, according to the plea agreement. Some of the cash went to mortgage payments and remodeling and landscaping at his Bethesda home, authorities said in court documents filed in 2008.