John Jefferson
Gumby’s Beer and Cigarette World, Glen Dale, West Virginia. (Google Maps). Inset: Mike Maroney (Glen Dale Police Department).
West Virginia Sen. Mike Maroney, 56, has been arrested after police say he was caught “breathing heavy” while committing an overt act of sexual gratification inside the video lottery room of Gumby’s Cigarette & Beer World in Glen Dale.
The incident occurred during the afternoon of Aug. 4, although Maroney was not arrested until Tuesday. According to a criminal complaint obtained by Law&Crime on Thursday, police said when they arrived at Gumby’s they spoke to two female staff on duty who stated that Maroney was in the back room on a gaming machine but that he had “come out to the ATM machine and was breathing heavy and was touching himself.”
“Unsure as to what was going on, they started to observe him on the CCTV, in doing so they witnessed him masturbating,” the complaint stated.
Prosecutors say that when one of the women called police at her supervisor’s behest, she told a dispatcher Maroney was “doing it right now.”
Officers said when they approached Maroney and found him in front of one of the poker machines and asked what he was doing, Maroney “stated that he was playing the machine.”
“I advised him that the attendants had witnessed him masturbating. He got defensive and advised he hadn’t. I advised him they have cameras all over and had seen him on camera. He still denied his actions and stated he’d just leave, he asked if he could finish his current game. He finished what he was doing and left the establishment,” a police affidavit underlying the criminal complaint states.
Police noted that the area Maroney was found in was not a “secured area,” meaning anyone wanting to play the machines could have walked in to do so.
Maroney was followed out of the lobby. After he left, staff showed police video.
“There were numerous times where he would put his hands in his pants and begin to masturbate. At approximately 1:04 p.m. it was very evident that Mr. Maroney was in the act of masturbating,” the affidavit notes.
West Virginia indecent exposure law prohibits “engag[ing] in any overt act of sexual gratification[.]”
Both of the staffers at Gumby’s were visibly “shaken and upset by what they had witnessed,” the report continued.
Maroney’s charges were brought by Marshall County Prosecutor Joe Canestraro.
This is not the Republican legislator’s first time finding himself on the wrong side of the law.
As Law&Crime previously reported, he was charged in August 2019 with seeking the services of a sex worker. Those charges were eventually dropped due to a lack of evidence after a 19-month probe. According to The Intelligencer, Maroney lashed out after charges were dropped, calling the case against him “politically motivated.”
For these latest charges, which include indecent exposure and disorderly conduct, Maroney was briefly detained at the Northern Regional Correctional Facility and Jail in Moundsville, West Virginia. He was released on a $3,500 personal recognizance bond, according to West Virginia Metro News.
It is unclear when he will appear in court next.
Canestraro did not immediately return a request for comment Thursday.
In a statement released on Aug. 14, West Virginia Senate President Craig Blair said he was “deeply concerned for” Maroney, calling him “our friend and colleague.” In order to give him “appropriate time to dedicate to his personal issues,” Blair also announced that he was stripping Maroney of his role as chairman of West Virginia’s Senate Committee on Health and Human Resources.
Blair said Maroney was relieved of all other committee responsibilities as well.
“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,” Blair said.
Maroney has been a Republican state senator since 2016. After serving two terms however, he was defeated in a May primary for a third term. The West Virginia senate’s meetings have already concluded for his term, meaning Maroney’s ouster from committee assignments is a moot point.
If found guilty of the misdemeanor indecent exposure and disorderly conduct charge, Maroney faces minor penalties: for misdemeanor disorderly conduct, the punishment is 24 hours in jail or the assessment of a $100 fine, or both, as noted by CBS News.
Misdemeanor indecent exposure convictions pose a penalty of up to a year in prison and/or $500 in fines, or both.
Maroney could not immediately be reached for comment.
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