An Easton business owner has plead guilty to cheating the State of Maryland out of tax money for nearly seven years.  From July of 2018 to June of 2025, Robert David Michael, 56, of Easton, who owns and runs B&E Motorsports, LLC charged customers the correct tax when they bought a jet ski, dirt bike, or trailer, and then made a second set of papers showing a lower, price.  The fake papers went to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the Motor Vehicle Administration. Michael paid the state tax only on the lower price and kept the difference.  Late in 2023, a DNR worker who handles vessel registrations noticed something was off. Forms from B&E Motorsports kept listing prices that were much too low.  The worker sent the concern to DNR’s auditing division. From there, the case moved to the Natural Resources Police  and then to the Attorney General’s Criminal Division.  Investigators found at least 165 times Michael falsified DNR forms and vessel titles. Some of those included forging customers’ signatures. The jet ski part of the scheme cost the state $81,081.42.  Michael pleaded guilty in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court. The charges were felony theft scheme over $100,000, felony identity fraud scheme over $25,000, perjury, and willfully filing a false income tax return.  Sentencing is set for October 27th. Under a binding agreement, Michael will serve 18 months in the Anne Arundel County Detention Center, followed by five years of supervised probation. 

The Queen Anne’s County Office of the Sheriff  has recently received multiple reports of checks being stolen, altered, washed, and fraudulently cashed while mail is in transit.   Check fraud can happen to anyone, so it’s important to know what to look for and how to protect yourself.  Think you’re a victim of check fraud?  Contact your bank or financial institution immediately and ask about placing a fraud alert or taking appropriate action on your account.