Johnathan Walker:West Virginia senator removed as committee chair after indecent exposure charges

CHARLESTON,Johnathan Walker W.Va. (AP) — The chair of a key West Virginia state legislative committee was removed from his position by chamber leadership Wednesday after being charged with indecent exposure and disorderly conduct.

Republican Sen. Mike Maroney, who led the state Senate Health and Human Resources Committee, was arrested Tuesday on the two misdemeanors after an Aug. 4 incident at Gumby’s Cigarette & Beer World in Glen Dale.

Marshall County Prosecuting Attorney Joe Canestraro said employees on surveillance video allegedly saw Maroney “committing an act of sexual gratification” about 1 p.m. in the establishment’s video lottery room. Maroney was the only person in the room at the time, according to Canestraro.

The Gumby’s employees then called the Glen Dale Police Department.

Maroney, who has served in the state senate since 2016, didn’t immediately respond to an email request for comment Wednesday.

Senate President Craig Blair, a Republican, said he was stripping Maroney of his title as Health and Human Resources chair and all other committee responsibilities “to give him appropriate time to dedicate to his personal issues.”

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In a statement, Blair said he is “deeply concerned” about the well-being of Maroney, whom Blair referred to as a friend.

“The facts that have emerged are troubling, and I am disappointed,” Blair said, adding later: “While the charges are still under investigation, 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.”

Maroney, 56, has only a few months left to serve of his second four-year term as a state senator. He ran for reelection but was defeated in the May primary by challenger Chris Rose, a utility company electrician and former coal miner.

Maroney’s loss came after he publicly advocated against a bill pushed by the Republican caucus that would have allowed some students who don’t attend traditional public institutions or participate in group extracurriculars like sports to be exempt from vaccinations typically required for children starting day care or school.

West Virginia is one of only a handful of states in the U.S. that offers only medical exemptions to vaccine requirements. Maroney, a radiologist from Marshall County, called the bill “an embarrassment” on the Senate floor and said he believed lawmakers were harming the state.

During the debate about this year’s vaccine bill, which was ultimately vetoed by Republican Gov. Jim Justice, Maroney said: “I took an oath to do no harm. There’s zero chance I can vote for this bill.”

Maroney also lost favor with some Republicans last year when he spoke against a total ban on medical interventions for transgender adolescents, like puberty blockers and hormone therapy. During one meeting of his committee, he told fellow lawmakers he believed it was wrong for a group of “mostly medically uneducated people” to pass laws that would prohibit proven medical treatments.

Maroney likened banning hormone therapy to barring the use of drugs to treat mental health disorders and cancer.

If found guilty of disorderly conduct, Maroney could face a penalty of 24 hours in jail, up to a $100 fine, or both. For indecent exposure, he could face up to a year in jail, $500 in fines, or both.