Former Hogan chief of staff Roy McGrath found in Tennessee

McGrath, who’d had a lifelong curiosity in politics, rose to develop into one in all Hogan’s should trusted advisers till the Baltimore Solar broke information of an almost quarter-million-dollar severance he obtained in 2020 upon leaving the Maryland company to develop into Hogan’s high aide. The revelation prompted legislative hearings Hogan as soon as labeled a “witch hunt” in a message to McGrath, however it additionally led to a break between the 2 males.

The blame for the disintegration of that relationship lands squarely on Hogan in an e-book titled “Betrayed: The True Story of Roy McGrath,” launched beneath mysterious circumstances on Amazon.com the week after his disappearance. The guide featured McGrath as a protagonist who “labored laborious,” and “had no document of any wrongdoing in his lifetime.”

An individual claiming to be the guide’s writer, listed on-line as Ryan Cooper, contacted reporters at The Washington Put up saying he’d written the guide based mostly on a draft produced by McGrath and “half a dozen or so conversations” with him. He declined to supply The Put up with data to confirm his id and stated he was not in contact with McGrath — and was not McGrath posing as another person. “I haven’t heard a peep from him, and to make issues worse, that’s what worries me,” the individual stated. “He’s not the type of man to simply vanish.”

Earlier than McGrath was discovered, Murtha stated he’d final spoken together with his shopper by phone the day earlier than trial. They’d deliberate to satisfy outdoors the courtroom at 8:45 the following morning. McGrath had deliberate to testify in his personal protection, Murtha stated. “Greater than anything, I’ve a priority for his security.”

McGrath was indicted in 2021 in reference to allegations together with that he’d misled officers to acquire the severance package deal from the Maryland Environmental Service (MES), the place he served as govt director.

Md. Gov. Larry Hogan’s messages to state staff self-destruct in 24 hours

McGrath has maintained that Hogan authorised it. However the governor, who has cooperated with regulation enforcement and has not been accused of any crime, has repeatedly denied data of it.

“I do know you probably did nothing improper. I do know it’s unfair. I’ll stand with you,” Hogan wrote to his former aide in an undated message after it was publicly revealed that McGrath obtained the cost. McGrath has stated he resigned from the chief of workers job, which he held for lower than three months, due to the governor’s pledge to face by him.

Michael Ricci, a former spokesman for Hogan, who left workplace in January, has stated the governor despatched the message earlier than studying extra particulars about how the severance package deal was obtained. Prosecutors say McGrath falsified a memo through which he stated Hogan authorised the severance.

“That is devastating my life,” McGrath advised Hogan in a non-public textual content message in 2020, in response to a picture obtained by The Washington Put up.

Federal and state authorities allege that McGrath enriched himself by “utilizing his positions of belief” as the chief director of MES and the chief of workers for Hogan to trigger MES to pay the severance and different bills. Prosecutors additionally say McGrath falsified time sheets, recording that he was at work whereas he took two holidays, together with one to Europe in 2019 together with his girlfriend, whom he later married.

Hogan was on the prosecution’s witness record for a trial anticipated to take a number of weeks. McGrath additionally faces state prices of theft, misconduct in workplace and violating Maryland’s wiretap legal guidelines by recording non-public calls with Hogan and different officers with out their permission. A state trial is scheduled for this summer time.

McGrath, who was born in Greece however grew up in Maryland, entered politics at 18, when he grew to become a member of the Republican Get together and later fashioned a Younger Republicans membership in Southern Maryland. McGrath knew Hogan as a younger congressional candidate within the early Nineties and served on his marketing campaign committee throughout Hogan’s unsuccessful bid to unseat Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md). On the time, McGrath was head of the Charles County Republican Central Committee.

The 2 would meet once more in 2014 when McGrath, who was then working as vice chairman of enterprise growth and conventions on the Nationwide Affiliation of Chain Drug Shops, volunteered and donated to Hogan’s gubernatorial marketing campaign. Shortly after Hogan received, he tapped McGrath as his deputy chief of workers.

In 2016, Hogan appointed McGrath to take the helm at MES, and in 2020 throughout the pandemic, the governor requested McGrath, whom he known as a “chief with a confirmed observe document … and a passionate dedication to public service,” to take one of the vital highly effective positions in state authorities as his chief of workers.

To McGrath’s former colleagues within the statehouse, McGrath was a consummate administrator. He was meticulous, strait-laced, the kind of one who at all times performed it by the guide. In interviews in 2021 with 20 present and former state authorities and statehouse officers who labored with McGrath as he got here up in Maryland politics, virtually all advised The Put up they have been caught off guard by the information of his severance package deal and excesses in spending. They described him as being an easy, formal and, at occasions, stiff colleague who targeted on work and didn’t appear to have outsize political ambitions.

Whereas beneath investigation, McGrath moved to Florida and purchased a home in a gated group together with his then-girlfriend. Federal brokers executed a search warrant on the house on March 15.

There was no speedy indication Monday night time how lengthy McGrath had been in Tennessee, or what precipitated him to go there.

This can be a creating story and will likely be up to date.