In 1940 the prosecutor's office in Münster had launched a criminal investigation against Schreiber in respect of supposed violation of technical and administrative regulations at the institutes confiscated from him the previous year. Embezzlement was alleged. Many details of the case remain unclear, as are the circumstances under which it was dropped, probably for lack of evidence, on 9 May 1942. The party did not give up, however, and Schreiber was now placed under house arrest, while the security services continued to try and find reasons to reopen the case against him. Schreiber avoided capture in the aftermath of the assassination attempt, already aware that he was likely to be at heightened risk of detention, and having evidently received timely warnings from insiders. There are references to security service reports describing him as "passionately opposed to Nazism" (though it is not clear precisely what he might have done to attract such comments). In any event, during the second half of the summer in 1944 he fled south, taking refuge initially in Osterhofen and nearby . It seems reasonable to suppose that his choice of location was connected with the still dominant role of the church in the district. In January 1945 he found a more permanent place of refuge, hiding for the rest of the war with the Benedictines in the monastery at Ottobeuren.