Greenbelt, Maryland - A former Prince George's County police officer received a federal-prison sentence for his role in an auto-insurance fraud scheme.

Judge Lydia Griggsby sentenced Michael Anthony Owen, Jr., 37, of Accokeek, Maryland, to six months in federal prison, followed by two years of supervised release, with the first six months served on home detention, for the falsification of records in connection with the scam. Judge Griggsby also ordered Owen to pay $17,585 to the victim of one of his insurance fraud schemes.

Kelly O. Hayes, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland, announced the sentence with Special Agent in Charge Jimmy Paul, FBI Baltimore Field Office, and Chief George Nader, Prince George's County Police Department (PGPD).

According to court documents, between August 2018 and February 2020, Owen and Jaron Earl Taylor, 32, of Ft. Washington, Maryland, a former Anne Arundel County Police Department officer, conspired with fellow police officers to engage in mail and wire fraud. Taylor and Owen, along with officers Candace Tyler, 39, of Bowie, Maryland, Conrad D'Haiti, 56, of La Plata, Maryland, Davion Percy, 40, of Suitland, Maryland, and others, devised a scheme for insurance companies to pay out the remaining financing costs of unwanted vehicles.

Members of the conspiracy reported fictitious losses to insurers to obtain money or avoid paying off vehicles that were worth less than the amount owed on them. The co-conspirators used their statuses as police officers to assist each other's claims by writing false police reports. Then co-conspirators submitted fictitious police reports to insurers to validate the claim. The false police reports were intended to impede, obstruct, or influence subsequent investigations of the false insurance claims.

In August 2018, Owen and Taylor staged the theft of Taylor's Chevrolet Tahoe. After Taylor filed a fraudulent police report, he and Owen stripped the vehicle and drove it deep into the woods of a Maryland State Highway property near Largo. Taylor then made a false claim to the United Services Automobile Association (USAA) for the loss, for which USAA paid out a total of $38,670.

Then in January 2020, Owen assisted D'Haiti in avoiding payment on the loan balance of a Jaguar XKR. In cooperation with D'Haiti and Percy, Owen devised a scheme to fake the vehicle's theft. On January 4, D'Haiti parked his Jaguar behind Marlow Heights Shopping Center where Percy worked as police chief.

D'Haiti then paid Percy $350 to arrange for another co-conspirator to tow the vehicle and extensively vandalize it for the purpose of creating a total insurance loss. Tyler subsequently filed the fictitious police report that D'Haiti used to substantiate his claim against Liberty Mutual Insurance. In February 2020, Liberty Mutual paid the Jaguar's lienholder, Navy Federal Credit Union, $17,585, on the false claim.

Additionally, in January 2020, Owen and Taylor assisted with disposing of an Infiniti sedan to help a co-conspirator avoid making further payments on the vehicle while on extended overseas duty. The co-conspirator gave Taylor $1,000 via CashApp to stage the theft. Taylor then forwarded the money to Owen who filed a false police report with PGPD, stating the vehicle was stolen.

But Owen, Taylor, and others moved the car to the top floor of a Camp Springs, Maryland, apartment-complex parking garage. The co-conspirators attempted to conceal the car's identity by removing the vehicle's license plates and replacing them with different ones registered to another vehicle. The owner and co-conspirator filed a claim with GEICO that was eventually denied on grounds of fraud.

In connection with this scheme, in June 2026, a federal jury found Percy guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud in connection with the auto-insurance fraud scheme. Then in July 2026, Judge Griggsby sentenced Taylor, 32, to three years of probation, with the first five months served on home detention, for conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Judge Griggsby also ordered Taylor to pay $38,670 in restitution to the United States Automobile Association. Additionally, Tyler pled guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud, and D'Haiti, 56, pled guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. Percy's sentencing is scheduled for Friday, October 16, at 10 a.m.

U.S. Attorney Hayes commended the FBI and PGPD for their work in the investigation. Ms. Hayes also thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Baldwin who is prosecuting the case.

For more information about the Maryland U.S. Attorney's Office, its priorities, and resources available to report fraud, visit justice.gov/usao-mdLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the "external link" icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link..

# # #