He Took Her for $210,000, Latest Wife Claims : Much-Wed Man Held in Grand Theft

When a 47-year-old North Hollywood woman placed an advertisement seeking male companionship in a single’s magazine last fall, she got more than she bargained for, authorities say.

The ad was answered by Conrad Eugene Grohs Jr., a self-described Kenny Rogers look-alike, who wrote that he was a doctoral candidate in psychology--with a special interest in pain control--who was seeking a storybook relationship.

The pair married a month later. But by December, the woman had discovered that Grohs had allegedly taken more than $210,000 out of her bank accounts. She threw him out, filed for an annulment and called police.

On Thursday, Grohs, 42, who authorities say appears to have lied about his scholastic background, was arraigned in Los Angeles Municipal Court on charges of grand theft and forgery. Judge Elva R. Soper set bail at $1 million.

The case, Deputy Dist. Atty. Judy Gray said, is one of bunco, not of an unhappy marriage.

“There’s a definite distinction,” the prosecutor said, “between someone who has a bad marriage and is unhappy about that marriage . . . and a person who is the victim of a planned-out theft by marriage.”

Grohs, also known as Andrew J. Afar, has apparently been married eight times, Gray said, and his seventh marriage, to a San Francisco woman, was annulled after he allegedly stole $85,000 from her.

Grohs, who has also attested to marriages with women in New York, Florida and elsewhere, was also apparently romantically involved with three other women in the San Francisco area who claim that he took about $15,000 from them, Gray said.

When arrested in Newport Beach this week, Grohs was living on a boat with another woman. He was caught when the brother of yet another woman became suspicious and learned of the outstanding arrest warrant, Gray said.