WHY DOES ST MARYS COUNTY PUT A JUNKIE IN CHARGE OF DRUGS AND EMS UNITS?

The St. Mary’s Commissioners increased your taxes, claimed to be Republicans, and hired a junkie to be chief of your EMS services. The Junkie in Chief has access to your home in an emergency, administers drugs, drives a Medic unit, and has access to valuables in your home. What special kind of idiot does it take to be a St. Mary’s County Commissioner?

Former St. Mary’s Commissioner John O’Connor replied to this news story and included a warning to the current commissioners who may wish to dispute his account – he has the proof to back up his statement.

JOHN O’CONNOR:

As County Commissioner Representing District 3 from 2014-2022, I was informed in 2021 that St Mary’s County was looking to hire Mr. Raley in the Department of Emergency Services. This was after he was presumably denied employment while awaiting to start at Charles County Department of Emergency Medical Services, allegedly due to his previous criminal actions at Leonardtown Rescue Squad, which led to a plea deal.

Based on publicly available documentation, Judiciary Case Search, and local news articles, it was no secret that Mr. Raley took a plea deal regarding the theft of Narcotics from the Leonardtown Rescue Squad.

While the commissioners typically do not participate in individual hiring decisions, I voiced my concerns about the hiring process and decisions made with this knowledge. Some of the Commissioners on the current board, such as Mike Hewitt, were aware of the circumstances surrounding this employee’s hiring back in 2021, and before they try to deny it, I have the emails to back it up, so tread carefully. It is apparent they must have amnesia.

I specifically cautioned against hiring someone with a history of narcotics abuse and theft into a role that would grant them direct access to narcotics, NCIC information in Dispatch and Communications Systems, rescue squads, the detention center, citizens’ homes, and secure county facilities. I questioned the lack of a proper background process for paramedics and EMTs.

I unequivocally stated that a repeat of the actions at the Leonardtown Rescue Squad incident was not a matter of if but when, and they were giving liability a seat at the table. However, since the records were allegedly expunged, a plea deal was in place, and no actual “conviction” was on record; the then-director of emergency services decided to move forward without consulting the entire board of commissioners, other senior staff, or the county legal team about the hiring decision, pushing him through the process as fast as possible.

This problem could have been solved before it happened. Still, it would have taken an executive session, which needed to be called by the Commissioner President and three votes by the Commissioners. Unfortunately, that never happened, so the citizens are left with the current situation.

I hope the State’s Attorney considers all of the victims who were affected. I hope they weigh all the factors and that he is charged and prosecuted to the fullest extent of any applicable law, bringing a sense of justice and reassurance to the community.

When St. Mary’s County decided to hire an admitted drug addict in the EMS system and put him into the homes of citizens as part of his duties, administering drugs to unknowing victims and patients, operating medic unit vehicles, and doing this despite his prior arrest for stealing drugs from Leonardtown Volunteer Rescue Squad medicine boxes, was callous, irresponsible and dangerous. Commissioner John O’Connor warned the county that just because Raley caught a plea deal from St. Mary’s States Attorney Richard Fritz and then was able to have the criminal charges expunged from his record doesn’t mean that the judicial fiction meant that the actions of a junkie weren’t pertinent and would expose the public to any continued drug addiction by Raley. St. Mary’s County hired Raley anyway. The St. Mary’s Commissioners are a fountain of buffoonery; they hired Steven Walker to be the EMS manager when the only experience he had was that of a local cop in Prince George’s County. The buck stops with the Bozo Board. The good part is that two of the board members are term-limited and will leave in two years.
WHAT A SHIT SHOW.

WHY DOES ST MARYS COUNTY PUT A JUNKIE IN CHARGE OF DRUGS AND EMS UNITS?

LEONARDTOWN, MD. – Second chances can be hard to come by, and for one department chief of the St. Mary’s County Government, it might be that his second chance in the local emergency medical services is going to be his last chance. The Chief of the EMS for St. Mary’s County was arrested in 2019 for stealing drugs from the Leonardtown Volunteer Rescue Squad after he voluntarily admitted he was the suspect in several thefts of drugs from rescue squads. He said that he was a drug addict and wanted to seek treatment.

Only a county government run by nimrods would decide to give this person a second chance without requiring regular drug tests.

Drug testing for county employees revealed the regular drug use by the St. Mary’s County Permits Supervisor, Robyn Guyther, which resulted in his exit from the employee rolls of the county.

Evidently, it was a good move for him as his criminal charges were expunged and no longer appear in Maryland Court records. He was hired in 2023 as the Chief of Emergency Medical Services, and his goal of serving to assist others was moving in a positive direction.

Now, that has all changed.

The St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Department announced on July 23, 2024, that on Tuesday, July 16, 2024, the agency was alerted to suspected tampering with the security seal on a narcotics box in a local medic unit. Detectives from the Criminal Investigations Division found that fentanyl vials in the medic box had been compromised, leading to further investigations that uncovered additional tampering incidents in multiple county medic units and EMS facilities.

Thomas Patrick Raley, 39, Chief of Emergency Medical Services for St. Mary’s County Government, has been identified as the lone suspect. The investigation is continuing in coordination with the Office of the State’s Attorney for St. Mary’s County.

The St. Mary’s Sheriff’s Department reported that on Friday, December 28, 2018, Cpl. D. Reppel of the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office responded to the report of a theft at the Leonardtown Rescue Squad on Lawrence Avenue in Leonardtown. The drugs were identified as Morphine, Ketamine, and Midazolam.  Drug storage compartments had been tampered with, medical boxes opened and glued back together. Finally, after a thorough review of logs to determine who had access to the medical boxes and a review of security footage, the fickle finger of fate was pointing to Raley.  Shortly afterward, Raley admitted that he had taken the drugs due to his addiction and was issued a criminal summons on Monday, January 21, 2019, charging him with theft and destruction of property.

ST. MARY’S COUNTY 911 HAYWIRE COSTS LIFE OF INFANT; RESCUE CHIEF SLAMS OFFICIALS FOR LAME OPERATIONS