Former Chief of Staff to Maryland Governor Killed in Shootout With Federal Agents

Roy McGrath had been on the lam since failing to appear for a court date three weeks ago.

Saul Young/Knoxville News Sentinel via AP
Knox County Sheriff's Office and FBI officers work in a parking lot area at Knoxville, Tennessee. A lawyer for a former Maryland political aide says the man has died after being wounded while being confronted by law enforcement agents following a manhunt launched after he failed to appear for trial. Saul Young/Knoxville News Sentinel via AP

The one-time chief of staff to Maryland’s former governor has been killed in a confrontation with FBI agents after a three-week manhunt. 

Roy McGrath served as chief of staff to Governor Hogan in 2020 at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic after leading the state-owned Maryland Environmental Service corporation. When he departed MES to join Mr. Hogan’s executive staff, he allegedly orchestrated a scheme to pay himself more than $275,000 in severance pay. 

The environmental service corporation oversees waste management and water treatment for both government entities and private clients in Maryland. 

McGrath was indicted by a federal grand jury in October 2021 on multiple charges of wire fraud and embezzlement. Had he been convicted on all charges, he could have served up to 30 years in a federal prison.

He was released on bond after his arraignment and failed to appear for a court date three weeks ago. The FBI then began a manhunt that eventually led them to Knoxville, Tennessee, where McGrath died during a shootout with federal agents.  

McGrath’s lawyer lamented that his client’s life ended this way. “The FBI has confirmed that Roy succumbed to the injuries inflicted earlier in the evening,” attorney Joseph Murtha told CNN. “It is a tragic ending to three weeks of uncertainty. I think it is important to stress that Roy never waivered about his innocence.” 

An attorney for McGrath’s wife said his client is “absolutely distraught” after her husband’s death. 

McGrath allegedly stole a total of $276,731 from the Maryland Environmental Service corporation between March 2019 and December 2020. The majority of that payment consisted of a “severance” of one year’s salary amounting to more than $233,000. He also used the corporation’s funds to pay for a class he took at a local university after he left the agency and made a contribution to a local museum in his name using government money. 

The indictment states that McGrath attempted to “conceal the payments and circumstances surrounding the payments” from Mr. Hogan and other high-ranking Maryland officials. Prosecutors claim that McGrath “falsely told the MES Board that the Governor was aware of and consented to the severance payment.” They also allege that he “illegally recorded private conversations involving senior state officials without their permission.”


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