On Tuesday, July 16, 2024, the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office 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.
Raley was appointed EMS Chief despite a past legal issue that came to light in January of 2019, after Raley had been issued a criminal summons charging him with theft and destruction of property. These charges stemmed from an incident involving the Leonardtown Rescue Squad, where Raley was found tampering with a medical box containing Morphine, Ketamine, and Midazolam controlled substances.
The situation unfolded when the Chief Medic at the Leonardtown Rescue Squad reported to the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office that a paramedic had noticed that the seal on one of the squad’s medical boxes had been broken and poorly repaired with glue. This box, which was kept in a secure storage area accessible only to paramedics, contained vials of the powerful medications.
The investigation revealed that Raley had been the only other paramedic with access to the box at the time of the incident. Surveillance footage from the Rescue Squad showed Raley entering the building through a rear door on a day he was off duty and had no official reason to be in the storage area. The footage further showed Raley entering his access code to enter the secure area where the medical box was stored and then leaving the building without interacting with anyone.
When questioned by Cpl. D. Reppel of the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office, Raley was unable to provide a clear explanation for his actions and later admitted that he had stolen the medications due to a personal struggle with substance abuse.
