Mike Maroney Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Sen. Maroney Arrested And Asked To Step Down

State Sen. Mike Maroney, R-Marshall, was arrested on Monday for suspicion of driving under the influence. This is his third arrest since his tenure as a state senator began in 2016. His other arrests were for solicitation of a prostitute and indecent exposure.

Now the Monongalia County GOP has asked him to step down. Maroney’s district encompasses nine counties: Marshall, Monongalia, Wetzel, Marion, Tyler, Doddridge, Ritchie, Gilmer, and Calhoun.

Ethan Moore is the county party chairman. He says that Maroney no longer represents his district’s values.

“We believe that we deserve representation that represents our goals and our values,” Moore said. “The actions that Senator Maroney has taken here recently, and the issues that have caused him to be arrested for allegations, we don’t believe, represent those values and goals of our community and our constituents.”

He says absenteeism has also been a problem with the senator. Maroney was absent during the May special session, and all the interim sessions since.

He said in a message to the senator, that he hopes he gets better.

“Take care of yourself, straighten out your life and focus on recovery and making sure that you’re leading a life worth leading,“ Moore said.

Moore is asking the governor to grant Senate leadership the ability to remove Maroney from office if he fails to resign. Following his last arrest Maroney was removed from all of his committee assignments, including the health committee that he chaired.

Maroney lost his May primary election, his term is set to expire in January.

Maroney made headlines in the last regular session for his attempts to block a bill that would roll back vaccine regulation in the state for school children. The bill was ultimately passed by the legislature and then vetoed by Gov. Jim Justice.

State Senator Removed From Committees After Indecent Exposure Arrest

West Virginia state Sen. Mike Maroney, R-Marshall, was charged with indecent exposure on Tuesday. Glen Dale Police say he was arrested after a lottery room surveillance camera caught him in “an overt act of sexual gratification” on Sunday.

Following the arrest Maroney was removed as chairman of the Senate Committee on Health and Human Resources. Senate President Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, said in a statement that he is both concerned and disappointed.

“To give him appropriate time to dedicate to his personal issues,” Blair said, “I have removed him as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health and Human Resources and have relieved him of all other committee responsibilities.”

Blair noted that the incident is still under investigation, and Maroney is innocent of the crime until proven guilty.

“If true, this allegation is obviously not up to the standard of what we expect from our elected leaders in the State Senate of West Virginia,” Blair said.

In 2019 Mike Maroney was arrested and charged with soliciting a prostitute.

Maroney lost his primary election, and was absent during the May special session.

Primary Election Shakes Up State Senate

Eight state senators will not be returning for next year’s legislative session. That makes up nearly 25 percent of the upper chamber.

Tuesday’s shake up resulted in four senators losing their primary races: Sens. Chandler Swope, R-Mercer, Robert Karnes, R-Randolph, Mike Maroney, R-Marshall, and, most notably, Senate President Craig Blair, R-Berkeley.

Sens. David Stover, R-Wyoming, Robert Plymale, D-Wayne, Charles Trump, R-Morgan, and Mike Caputo, D-Marion, all decided not to run for a Senate seat this year. Trump is headed to serve on the state’s Supreme Court.

Sen. Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson, held onto her Republican nomination, but with a thin two percent margin.

Sen. Mark Hunt, R-Kanawha, won the Republican nomination for state auditor. If he wins in November, he will be the ninth senator to leave the Senate this year.

Bill Requires Rape Kit Access Within 24 Hours

A bill passed in the Senate Monday morning, requiring all West Virginia hospitals with emergency departments have a trained Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) available to treat victims 24 hours a day.

Senate Bill 89 passed on third reading. It now goes to the House of Delegates for consideration. Issues around proper care for victims of sexual assault or abuse were also a topic of conversation during interim committee sessions where lawmakers heard from advocates, including two representatives of the Sexual Assault Forensic Examination Commission (SAFE).

On Jan. 10, two advocates for the bill, Nancy Hoffman, director of the West Virginia Foundation for Rape Information and Services (WVFRIS) and David Miller, Forensic Central Evidence Processing Supervisor with the West Virginia State Police, told lawmakers that remaining roadblocks in proper care and criminal proceedings stem from a shortage of SANE-trained nurses in combination with travel time and costs, causing long delays for the victims.

Senate Bill 89 addresses those issues by calling on the state’s hospitals to implement training as soon as possible, to meet their 18-month deadline.

Sen. Mike Woelfel, D-Cabell, mentioned the legislature has been working to pass a version of this bill for three years. He asked if West Virginia’s hospitals would have a hard time complying.

In response, Health and Human Resources Committee Chair Sen. Mike Maroney, R-Marshall, mentioned interim committee discussions and said the hospitals understood how important this training will be for their patients.

“We’ve had some pretty intense discussions during interims concerning this,” Maroney said. “The hospitals had a presence there like they usually do everywhere, paying attention. It’s a mandate of nurse training during probably the worst nursing shortage in our state’s history, the timing is not ideal but we have waited two years and they’ve known it’s coming and they are going to ramp up a little bit if you take the effective date, you have another 18 months, which gives you three cycles of training to get through. They know it is the right thing to do and they are okay.”

Furthermore, lawmakers discussed how impactful accessibility of SANE-trained nurses will be to the victims, but also the investigations.

“It would be possible right now to be a rape victim and have to travel, dirty, for three hours, that is adding significantly more trauma in my opinion to the victim that has already been traumatized,” Maroney said. “Every mile you drive, you increase the risk of contamination so therefore you risk non-conviction.”

Senate Bill 89 passed unanimously.

West Virginia State Senator Charged With Soliciting Prostitute

West Virginia state Sen. Mike Maroney has been charged with soliciting a prostitute.

The Republican lawmaker turned himself in and was arraigned Wednesday morning, a Marshall County court clerk said. He has pleaded not guilty and paid a $4,500 bond.

Maroney exchanged text messages to discuss prices and set up meetings with a woman who has acknowledged being a prostitute, according to a criminal complaint. He also sent her a picture of himself smiling along with a message reading “now can I stop by” after she said she wouldn’t meet without a photo of him.

Police have been investigating the woman, Cortnie Clark, and say two people have already pleaded guilty to soliciting her for sex. She has been criminally charged and has told police she became a prostitute so she could buy heroin, according to the complaint. Her attorney didn’t immediately return a message left at his office.

Authorities found used condoms, uncapped hypodermic needles and “an unimaginable amount”of human feces and urine throughout Clark’s house. Before one of their meetings, she told Maroney her house was messy and he replied he didn’t care about a mess, the complaint said.

Maroney, 51, did not return a voicemail left on his cellphone. His lawyer, Paul Harris, didn’t immediately return a message left at his office.

West Virginia Senate President Mitch Carmichael issued a statement saying the allegations are “deeply disturbing” and that further statements would be released as the case continues.

Belinda Biafore, the chairwoman of the state Democratic party, is calling for Maroney to be removed from the Senate.

Maroney is the chairman of the Senate committee on health and human resources.