PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, Md. — Six police officers from multiple localities and counties in Maryland have been indicted on fraud charges by federal law enforcement for conspiracy to commit bank fraud, wire fraud, and/or mail fraud, according to the Department of Justice.
Federal law enforcement officials believe the six officers from multiple police departments conspired to commit three separate frauds, each of which involved filing false police reports and falsified loss claims in order to fraudulently obtain funds from financial institutions and insurance companies.
Three of the officers are from the Prince George’s County Police Department, with the other officers associated with Maryland-National Capital Park Police, Anne Arundel County Police and Fairmount Heights Police Department, according to the release.
The indictment says that between May 2019 and Jan. 2020, the six officers conspired to defraud three financial institutions through the withdrawal of money from their financial accounts, and used ATMs for the purpose of fraudulently claiming the money was stolen in order to seek reimbursement. The indictment also says the officers submitted false police reports to PGPD stating that their debit cards were stolen and used to withdraw funds from the ATM without their permission.
The six officers did not always act together, and some of the officers were not a part of the initial fraud attempts that happened in 2019, but were a part of the later bank and ATM fraud attempts, said federal officials.
The officers charged are Conrad Darwin D’Haiti (Maryland-National Capital Park Police), Philip James Dupree (Fairmount Heights Police), Jaron Earl Taylor (Anne Arundel County Police), Michael Anthony Owen (PGPD), Mark Ross Johnson, Jr. (PGPD), Candace Danielle Tyler (PGPD).
One of the officers named in the alleged fraud is Michael Anthony Owen. Owen was arrested in 2020 on charges of second-degree murder, manslaughter and associated weapons charges in the death of William Green, a man who was in custody at the time of his death.
All six defendants of the alleged fraud were police officers at the time of the alleged criminal activity, federal officials said.
The DOJ did not release the specific locations of where the fraud attempts occurred.
If convicted, these officers face maximum sentences that range between 20 and 30 years.
