Former Chief of Staff to Md. Governor indicted on felony state and federal charges

BALTIMORE, Md. – A federal grand jury indicted Governor Larry Hogan’s former Chief of Staff on Tuesday, charging him with allegedly fraudulently obtaining funds from Maryland Environmental Service corporation.

We’re told that the criminal information also alleges that 52-year-old Roy McGrath illegally recorded private conversations with senior Maryland state officials.

According to the six-count federal indictment filed in U.S. District Court and the 27-count criminal information filed in the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County, on December 27, 2016, McGrath was appointed by the governor to serve as Executive Director of Maryland Environmental Service, a corporation owned by the state to provide environmental services such as water and wastewater management, solid waste management, composting, recycling, dredged material management and other services to state and local government agencies, federal government entities, and private clients. McGrath resigned from MES as of May 31, 2020, to become the Governor’s Chief of Staff, effective June 1, 2020.

The federal and state charges allege that from March 2019 through December 2020, McGrath used his positions of trust to cause MES to make payments to himself, on his behalf, to which he was not entitled. Specifically, it is alleged that McGrath caused MES funds to be paid to a museum where he was a member of the Board of Directors, instead of using his personal funds to pay his pledge to the museum; that McGrath caused the MES Board of Directors to approve paying him a $233,647.23 severance payment, equal to one year’s salary, on his department from MES by falsely telling them that the governor was aware of and approved the payment; that McGrath caused MES to pay tuition benefits for McGrath after he left MES by personally approving reimbursements for payments may by an employee on his behalf; and that McGrath falsified his timesheets, reporting that he was at work while on two separate vacations in 2019.

It is also alleged that McGrath illegally recorded private conversations involving senior state officials without their permission.

If convicted of the federal charges, McGrath faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for each of four counts of wire fraud, and a maximum of 10 years in prison for each of two counts of embezzling funds from an organization receiving more than $10,000 in federal benefits.

In the state case, McGrath faces a maximum penalty of any sentence that is not cruel or unusual for misconduct by a public official, and a maximum of five years in prison for felony theft, felony theft scheme, misappropriation, and for each violation of the Maryland Wiretap Statute.

McGrath is expected to have an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Baltimore and a state court appearance in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court, but those dates have yet to be set.