EASTON, Md. - The owner of Easton's B&E Motorsports, LLC, pleads guilty to a felony theft scheme where he allegedly created fake paperwork saying he sold jet skis, dirt bikes, and trailers for less than he actually did, which officials say cheated the State of Maryland out of tens of thousands of dollars in excise taxes.
Today, 56-year-old Robert David Michael from Easton pled guilty to the scheme over $100,000, and a felony identity fraud scheme over $25,000, as well as perjury and willfully filing an incorrect income tax return, according to the Maryland Attorney General.
“Every dollar stolen through tax fraud is a dollar that should have gone toward roads, schools, services and protecting the environment and Maryland’s natural resources,” says Attorney General Anthony G. Brown.
They say the scheme started in July 2018 and continued to June 2025, where he would collect the correct tax from consumers when they purchased jet skis, dirt bikes, and trailers from his company, but afterwards would create fake documents to submit to DNR and MDOT, showing a lower price. Officials say Michael would then pay only the tax owed on the fake price and pocket the difference.
They say a DNR employee at the Customer Service Center that processes vessel registration filings noticed discrepancies in Michael's filings in November 2023.
They say they found 165 instances of Michael faking various DNR forms and titles, including forging customer signatures, resulting in a total theft of $81,081.42 from the state. Then, they investigated his motor vehicle registrations, finding at least 95 instances of Michael faking various MVA forms, resulting in total theft of $78,545.49 from the state. Finally, they reviewed his bills of sales and invoices that would be subject to Maryland Sales Tax, and his personal income tax filings, resulting in a total theft of over $35,000 from the state.
Officials say Michael has agreed to pay $81,081,42 in restitution to DNR, over $52,000 to MDOT/MVA, and almost $40,000 to the Maryland Comptroller, as well as a $25,000 fine.
They also say the parties have agreed to a sentence where Michael will serve 18 months of time in the Anne Arundel County Detention Center, then after his release, will be on 18 moths of supervised probation. If he violates probation, he could serve up to eight and a half more years of incarceration.
