Easton Business Owner Gets 18 Months for Tax Fraud
Talbot County, MD - An Easton man who sold jet skis, dirt bikes and trailers is headed to jail after he shortchanged the State of Maryland on taxes for almost seven years. He's also already paid back every dollar the state says it lost but was still sentenced to jail time.
Robert David Michael, 56, of Easton, Maryland is the sole owner and operator of B&E Motorsports, LLC, Easton, MD. Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown announced that Michael was sentenced on October 27, 2026, to 18 months in jail.
According to the Attorney General's Office, from July 2018 to June 2025, customers who bought a jet ski, dirt bike or trailer from Michael paid the full and correct tax at the time of sale. The state's excise tax on those items is based on the sale price.
Michael then made up a second set of sales papers that showed a lower, fake price. He sent those papers to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT). He only paid the state the tax on the fake price, and he kept the rest of the money his customers had paid.
Prosecutors say he also cut corners on his own taxes. Michael reported far less income than he actually made, which shrank or wiped out the state income tax he owed.
On September 22, 2026, Michael pleaded guilty in the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County before Judge Stacy W. McCormack. He pleaded guilty to four charges, which were a felony theft scheme over $100,000, a felony identity fraud scheme over $25,000, perjury, and willfully filing a false income tax return.
At his sentencing on October 27, 2026, Michael received 18 months of active jail time at the Anne Arundel County Detention Center. He has to turn himself in on December 18, 2026.
Once he's released, Michael will be on supervised probation for five years. If he breaks the terms of that probation, he could face up to eight and a half more years behind bars.
Michael has already paid full restitution of $171,450.07. That money was split three ways, with $81,081.42 going to DNR, $52,448.36 going to the Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA) and $37,920.29 going to the Maryland Comptroller.
On top of that, he'll pay a $25,000 criminal fine.
Several state agencies worked the case together. The investigation was led by the Attorney General's Environmental and Natural Resources Crimes Unit, the Attorney General's Fraud and Corruption Unit, the Maryland Natural Resources Police, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, the MDOT Motor Vehicle Administration and the Maryland Office of the Comptroller.
