Roy McGrath (former chief of staff for Governor Larry Hogan) dies after confrontation with FBI

Roy C. McGrath, a fugitive who had been a top aide to Larry Hogan when he was Maryland’s governor, died Monday as the result of a confrontation with the FBI in the area of Knoxville, Tenn., his lawyer said. He had been the subject of a 21-day manhunt launched after he failed to show up to federal court in Baltimore.

McGrath, 53, was slated to face wire fraud and embezzlement charges stemming from alleged financial improprieties as the head of a Maryland quasi-public agency beginning March 13 — a day after his last contact with [his lawyer] Murtha.

McGrath, who’d had a lifelong interest in politics, rose to become one of Hogan’s most trusted advisers until the Baltimore Sun broke news of a nearly quarter-million-dollar severance he received in 2020 upon leaving the Maryland agency to become Hogan’s top aide. The revelation prompted legislative hearings that Hogan (R) once labeled a “witch hunt” in a message to McGrath, but it also led to a break between the two men.

Prosecutors say McGrath falsified a memo in which he said Hogan approved the severance.

Federal and state authorities allege that McGrath enriched himself by “using his positions of trust” as the executive director of MES and the chief of staff for Hogan to cause MES to pay the severance and other expenses. Prosecutors also say McGrath falsified time sheets, recording that he was at work while he took two vacations, including one to Europe in 2019 with his girlfriend, whom he later married.

McGrath also was charged with theft, misconduct in office and violating Maryland’s wiretap laws by recording private calls with Hogan and other officials without their permission.

(It's not clear at the moment whether the FBI shot him, or he took his own life.)

DOJ may seize $119,000 from late Hogan aide Roy McGrath’s bank account, judge rules​

McGrath was the governor’s chief of staff for 11 weeks, resigning after The Baltimore Sun reported about the six-figure severance package he received after voluntarily leaving his post at MES. Later indicted on corruption charges, McGrath evaded trial last year, sparking a three-week nationwide manhunt that ended in Tennessee with his death in a West Knoxville shopping center.