Former Prince George's Police Officer Convicted Of Arson, Fraud

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, MD — A federal jury has found two former police officers - Philip James Dupree, 41, of Pikesville, and Mark Ross Johnson, Jr., 38, of Camp Springs - each guilty of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, arson, conspiracy to commit bank fraud and bank fraud.

Dupree, a former Fairmount Heights Police Department officer, and Johnson, a former Prince George’s County Police Department officer, conspired with others to carry out the scheme, according to prosecutors.

According to the nine-count indictment, the co-conspirators joined forces to commit two separate fraud schemes. The schemes involved filing false police reports and falsifying loss claims to obtain and attempt to obtain funds from an insurance company and three different financial institutions.

As part of the insurance fraud scheme carried out in November 2018, Dupree and Johnson coordinated to burn Johnson’s Ford F450 truck that was experiencing mechanical and electrical problems. Dupree claimed he discovered the burning vehicle while on duty in Fairmount Heights and filed an impound report containing false statements regarding the recovery of the truck, according to court documents.

Johnson then used the report number in support of his claim filed with the insurance company for a total loss on the truck. He also submitted altered telephone records to his insurer to hide that he had a 16-minute conversation with Dupree just before Dupree claimed to have discovered the truck. A fire investigator, hired by the insurer, testified that the Ford F450 fire was intentionally set and originated in the passenger compartment of the truck, court documents showed.

The insurer, relying in part on the police report and altered telephone records, paid out more than $68,000 to the lien holder on the truck. Then from May 2019 until June 2019, Dupree, Johnson and others conspired to defraud three financial institutions. They coordinated the withdrawal of money from their financial accounts through ATMs so they could fraudulently claim their money was stolen. Then the men sought reimbursement from their financial institutions, prosecutors stated.

Dupree and Johnson coordinated submitting police reports to the PGPD. Through these reports, they falsely claimed their debit cards were stolen and then were used to withdraw funds from various ATMs without permission. One police report, submitted by Dupree to support his claim of a stolen debit card, was false. The report was never submitted to the Prince George’s County Record Management System, court documents showed.

The report included the name of a non-existent police officer as the preparer. It also carried over Johnson’s name as the “victim” from the separate report Johnson asked someone to generate to submit to his credit union. The men submitted fraudulent claims to the victim financial institutions seeking reimbursement for the purportedly unauthorized ATM withdrawals, prosecutors noted.

Both Dupree and Johnson are facing up to 20 years in federal prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud. They also face at least five years and up to 20 years for arson affecting interstate commerce, and up to 30 years for conspiracy to commit bank fraud and bank fraud.

Judge Lydia Griggsby scheduled Dupree’s sentencing for Feb. 19 at 10 a.m. Johnson’s sentencing has been for Feb. 23 at 1:30 p.m.