GREENBELT, Md. — A former Anne Arundel County police officer was sentenced in federal court for his role in an auto insurance fraud scheme involving staged vehicle thefts, false police reports and fraudulent claims to insurance companies.
Jaron Earl Taylor, 32, of Fort Washington, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Lydia Griggsby to three years of probation, with the first five months to be served on home detention, for conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Taylor was also ordered to pay $38,670 in restitution to the United Services Automobile Association.
Federal prosecutors reported Taylor was an Anne Arundel County Police Department officer at the time of the scheme. His co-conspirator, Michael Anthony Owen Jr., 38, of Accokeek, was a Prince George’s County police officer at the time and previously pleaded guilty to falsifying records in connection with the conspiracy.
According to court documents, Taylor and Owen conspired with other police officers between August 2018 and February 2020 to carry out a scheme involving unwanted vehicles that were worth less than what was owed on them.
Prosecutors reported members of the conspiracy filed fictitious vehicle loss claims with insurance companies to obtain payouts or avoid paying off vehicle loans. The officers used their positions to help each other’s claims by creating false police reports, which were then submitted to insurers to support the fraudulent claims.
Federal prosecutors stated the false reports were intended to impede, obstruct or influence later investigations of the insurance claims.
In August 2018, Taylor and Owen staged the theft of Taylor’s Chevrolet Tahoe. After Taylor filed a fraudulent police report, prosecutors reported Taylor and Owen stripped the vehicle and drove it deep into the woods on Maryland State Highway property near Largo.
Taylor then filed a false claim with USAA for the loss. The company paid out $38,670.
The broader case also involved other former or current officers. Prosecutors identified Candace Tyler, 39, of Bowie, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud; Conrad D’Haiti, 56, of La Plata, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud; and Davion Percy, 41, of Suitland, who was convicted by a jury in June 2026 of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.
In January 2020, prosecutors reported Owen helped D’Haiti avoid payment on the loan balance of a Jaguar XKR by arranging a fake theft. D’Haiti parked the 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 and heavily vandalize the vehicle to create a total insurance loss, prosecutors reported.
Tyler later filed a fictitious police report that D’Haiti used to support a claim with Liberty Mutual Insurance. In February 2020, Liberty Mutual paid the Jaguar’s lienholder, Navy Federal Credit Union, $17,585 on the false claim.
Prosecutors also reported Taylor and Owen helped dispose of an Infiniti sedan in January 2020 so another co-conspirator could avoid making additional payments while on extended overseas duty.
The vehicle’s owner paid Taylor $1,000 through Cash App to stage the theft. Taylor then forwarded the money to Owen, who filed a false Prince George’s County police report stating the Infiniti had been stolen.
Instead, prosecutors reported Taylor, Owen and others moved the vehicle to the top floor of an apartment-complex parking garage in Camp Springs. The group attempted to conceal the vehicle’s identity by removing its license plates and replacing them with plates registered to another vehicle.
The owner later filed a claim with GEICO, but the claim was denied on grounds of fraud.
Owen’s sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 18, 2026, in federal court.
U.S. Attorney Kelly O. Hayes announced Taylor’s sentence with FBI Baltimore Special Agent in Charge Jimmy Paul and Prince George’s County Police Chief George Nader.
The case was investigated by the FBI and Prince George’s County Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph Baldwin, Adeyemi Adenrele and Caroline Schechinger are prosecuting the case.
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