‘Agent-Involved Shooting’ Leaves Ex-Chief of Staff to Former Maryland Governor Dead, Ends FBI Manhunt

Roy McGrath, previously a top aide to the former Governor of Maryland, Larry Hogan, is seen in this U.S. Marshals Service wanted poster released on March 14, 2023. U.S. Marshals Service/Handout via Reuters

The FBI manhunt for Roy McGrath, an ex-chief of staff for the former Maryland Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, ended on Monday when McGrath was killed near Knoxville, Tennessee.

“The FBI is reviewing an agent-involved shooting which occurred at approximately 6:30 p.m. on Monday, April 3, 2023,” the FBI told The Epoch Times. “During the arrest, the subject, Roy McGrath, sustained injury and was transported to the hospital. 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.”

The FBI later stated that the agency reviews every shooting incident involving an FBI agent.

“The review will carefully examine the circumstances of the shooting and collect all relevant evidence from the scene,” the FBI spokesperson said.

McGrath had been on the run for almost three weeks after not attending this first federal trial on March 13.

On March 28, the U.S. Marshals and the FBI offered a combined reward of up to $20,000 for information on the whereabouts of McGrath.

The Charges

In 2021, 53-year-old McGrath was charged with fraud, theft of funds, and falsifying records to obtain funds from the Maryland Environmental Service (MES) corporation.

The Department of Justice alleged that from March 19 to December 2020, McGrath used his position of trust as the executive director of MES and the chief of staff for the governor to manipulate the MES to make payments on his behalf.

“Specifically, the federal indictment and state criminal information allege: that McGrath caused MES funds to be paid to a museum where he was a member of the Board of Directors instead of using his personal funds to pay his pledge to the museum; that McGrath caused the MES Board of Directors to approve paying McGrath a $233,647.23 severance payment—equal to one year’s salary—upon his departure from MES by falsely telling them that the Governor was aware of and approved the payment; that McGrath caused MES to pay tuition benefits for McGrath after he left MES by personally approving reimbursements for payments made by Subordinate Employee #1 on McGrath’s behalf; and that McGrath falsified his time sheets, reporting that he was at work while on two separate vacations in 2019,” the DOJ said in a 2021 press release.

McGrath faced a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for each of those five counts, a maximum of 10 years for each of the two counts of embezzling funds from an organization receiving more than $10,000 in federal benefits, and a maximum of 20 years in federal prison for falsifying documents.

McGrath’s attorney, Joseph Murtha, told ABC News that McGrath—who pleaded not guilty— “never wavered about his innocence.”

According to the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s office, McGrath was awaiting trial at his residence in Naples, Florida.

A judge issued a warrant for McGrath’s arrest when he failed to board the plane for Baltimore, Maryland, where the trial was to take place.