The police chief of Maryland’s most populous county resigned Friday after an investigation found he was “not truthful” when questioned about how and why a relative accompanied him to a conference in Las Vegas, according to a copy of the report and county officials.
The investigation of Montgomery County Police Chief Marc Yamada, conducted by the county’s Office of the Inspector General, also found that over a recent two-year stretch Yamada failed to record that he had taken any form of leave, despite being occasionally unavailable during regular work hours.
On one occasion he did not take leave to attend a golf tournament, according to a statement from the inspector general.
Yamada did not respond to phone and text messages seeking comment.
An earlier whistleblower complaint sent to Montgomery County council members alleged Yamada had traveled to Las Vegas with his son, also a police officer, who was classified as his father’s “protection detail” for the trip, according to a copy of the whistleblower complaint.
The inspector general’s report said Yamada, when questioned, claimed he didn’t participate in choosing his relative to go on the trip. But investigators “revealed this to be false,” the report said.
The report cited a Montgomery County code section that states that giving “false or misleading information in connection with any audit, study or investigation” is a violation of county code.
Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich said his office asked Yamada to resign Friday. “This stuff was serious enough we didn’t have a choice,” he said. Elrich called the conduct a shame, saying it was “really surprising” Yamada derailed what Elrich called a fine career with his actions. “Trust and integrity are fundamental to public service,” he added, “particularly for those entrusted with leading our police department.” Earlier Friday, Yamada emailed an internal announcement in the department that he was “retiring.”
Yamada’s email thanked his colleagues for their work and dedication.
“Today is my last day of service to you and Montgomery County,” he wrote.
“It has been the privilege of my lifetime to serve alongside you,” he added. “Every day you show up for our residents with courage and heart.”
In a response included in the inspector general’s report, Chief Administrative Officer Richard Madaleno, a top aide to the county executive, said “we are deeply concerned” with the alleged violation of a part of the county code addressing giving false statements during audits and investigations.
“Appropriate action has been taken,” Madaleno wrote.
The report included some statements Yamada made to investigators. He said he was in a private capacity when he attended the golf tournament and was dressed in civilian attire. He said he handled leave recording in the context of all the extra hours he regularly worked.
Yamada said he did not take leave because he believed the additional hours he routinely worked each pay period offset the time he was away, according to the report.
The report identified broader issues of “confusion among executives and managers regarding requirements for taking leave when attending non-official events during the workday.”
The inspector general released a different report earlier this month into the conduct of a former county government attorney who was given use of a police department fleet car, which the chief helped arrange and which the attorney used for personal transportation, according to that report.
The former county attorney could not be reached for comment.
The Montgomery County Police Department is the main law enforcement agency in the county, home to just over a million residents. The force has about 1,100 sworn officers and a large civilian staff.
After Yamada was unanimously confirmed as chief by the Montgomery County Council in 2024, there was optimism he could bridge two long-warring constituencies in the county: Montgomery’s powerful police union and police department administrators.
“The membership supports this pick,” Lee Holland, president of the union, FOP Lodge 35, told The Post at the time.
Yamada’s “career has been marked by dedication, courage, and unwavering commitment to the safety and well-being of our community,” Elrich said in 2024, when he nominated Yamada for the chief position.
Yamada joined Montgomery’s force in 1988. He rose through the ranks: patrol work, narcotics detective, lieutenant in the Wheaton district, major crimes supervisor and director of community engagement.
In a statement Friday, the police union said it was “disappointed to hear of Chief Yamada’s decision to retire.”
The union said Yamada “consistently worked with Lodge 35 to advocate for the rights, benefits, and working conditions of our members, and worked to address issues that impacted our officers.”
County council member Will Jawando, the Democratic nominee in November’s race for county executive in heavily blue Montgomery, said in a statement he was “deeply disappointed” by the report’s findings.
“I am grateful to the Office of the Inspector General for their thorough work to bring this matter to light,” he said.
In a Post article early in his tenure as chief, Yamada described his path into law enforcement.
“I was attending Frostburg State University,” he said. “I was in the business program. The thought was I’d own my own business. One day I went to a job fair in Frederick and saw a recruiting table with two Montgomery police officers … among all these Fortune 500 companies. I thought, ‘Well, I’ll talk to them.’”
“I liked being active and outside,” he added in the 2024 article, “and not sitting behind a desk. I thought, ‘Maybe I’ll start with this.’ And 37 years later here I am. So, I stumbled into law enforcement.”
He was also asked what kept him up at night.
“Fentanyl and opiates, especially among juveniles,” he said. “School shootings. Guns. Officers are seeing more guns than ever. They are being used more and more by our youth. And what keeps any chief up: losing an officer.”
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