© 2024 Blaze Media LLC. All rights reserved.
Former Republican chief of staff, wanted on federal fraud charges, shot dead in encounter with FBI
Screenshot of WBAL-TV YouTube video(Pictured: Roy McGrath, former chief of staff to former Governor Larry Hogan)

Former Republican chief of staff, wanted on federal fraud charges, shot dead in encounter with FBI

A former chief of staff of a former Republican governor died in an encounter with the FBI just a few weeks after he failed to appear in court for federal fraud charges.

On Monday evening, Roy McGrath, former chief of staff for former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, was shot and killed after the FBI tracked him down to the Knoxville, Tennessee, area. McGrath had been indicted on various federal charges in October 2021. When he failed to appear in the U.S. District Court in Baltimore on March 13, he became a fugitive with several federal agencies on his tail.

At around 6:30 p.m., the FBI cornered McGrath in his vehicle on a highway in Farragut, Tennessee. At some point, gunfire erupted and McGrath was injured in the shooting. He was transported to a nearby hospital, where he later died.

Initial reports suggested that McGrath took his own life, though the FBI seems to have walked some of those reports back, confirming only that an "agent-involved shooting" had occurred. The agency issued a statement regarding the incident: "The FBI takes all shooting incidents involving our agents or task force members seriously. In accordance with FBI policy, the shooting incident is under investigation by the FBI’s Inspection Division."

McGrath's attorney, Joseph Murtha, has confirmed McGrath's passing. "It is a tragic ending to the past three weeks of uncertainty," Murtha stated. "I think it is important to stress that Roy never wavered about his innocence."

McGrath spent just a short time, 11 weeks, as Hogan's chief of staff in the summer of 2020, but he had been an important player in Maryland politics for years. In 2016, Hogan nominated McGrath to run the Maryland Environmental Service, a state-affiliated nonprofit that provides various services, including recycling and wastewater management.

Many of the federal charges leveled at McGrath related to his time with the MES. McGrath was accused of funneling MES funds to an art museum to avoid making a donation out of his own pocket and of funneling $14,000 of MES funds to Harvard to pay for tuition. He was also accused of granting himself a severance payment of over $230,000 when he left the MES to work for the governor, and he allegedly falsified a document that claimed that Hogan approved of the exorbitant payment.

During his time as Hogan's chief of staff, McGrath, a U.S. citizen born in Greece, allegedly recorded four of the governor's phone calls without the governor's knowledge or consent. McGrath also allegedly stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from the state treasury as well.

Former Gov. Hogan, who left office in January, called the circumstances surrounding McGrath's death a "tragic situation." "We are praying for Mr. McGrath’s family and loved ones," Hogan stated.

At the time of his death, McGrath was facing federal charges of failure to appear, fraud, theft of funds, and falsifying records. If convicted, he could have served decades in prison, though the Baltimore Sun reported that he had a small chance of spending the rest of his life in prison and likely would not have had to serve any sentence in a high-security prison with violent offenders.

In the weeks following McGrath's disappearance, two self-published books purporting to give an insider's perspective on McGrath's political dealings appeared on Amazon. Though the author is listed as Ryan C. Cooper, several reports suggest that McGrath had actually written and published the books.

McGrath's death remains under federal investigation.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Want to leave a tip?

We answer to you. Help keep our content free of advertisers and big tech censorship by leaving a tip today.
Want to join the conversation?
Already a subscriber?