ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Editor's Note: The video above was published on April 21, 2022.
Roy McGrath, former chief of staff for Gov. Larry Hogan who was accused of wiretapping and fraud during his time at Maryland Environmental Services, was found to be abusing his position while he was the Director of the Maryland Environmental Service, according to Maryland General Assembly’s Joint Committee on Fair Practices and State Personnel Oversight.
The Committee found that McGrath hired "close associates" that did not fall under standard MES personnel policies.
Maryland Senate President, Bill Fergusen expressed his disdain for McGrath's actions in a statement, describing McGrath's behavior as "beyond the pale of what we expect of our public servants.”
The Maryland legislature had oversight hearings in 2020 in response to McGrath's MES severance payments, which the Committee says resulted in the state's general assembly passing Maryland Environmental Service Reform Act.
McGrath was indicted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland on six counts and the Maryland State Prosecutor's Office filed 27-count criminal information in Anne Arundel County's Circuit Court back in Oct. 2021.
According to lawmakers, The act was created to uphold stricter protocols for compensation and to implement accountability measures to reform MES.
Additionally, officials reportedly discovered that McGrath collected $169,306 for personal expenses which the committee describes to be almost "ten times his predecessor's expenditures."
The report also noted some of McGrath's "lavish trips" were charged to MES, one of which was a trip in 2018 to Orlando, Florida for a Disney Approach to Leadership Excellence Course that was reimbursed by MES, according to the Committee.
The Committee also found that McGrath created new positions at MES, employed "personal allies" and made the salaries for the positions at what the committee says was at the expense of taxpayer dollars.
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