By Tara Fischer

Staff Writer

(March 19, 2026) Former member of the Ocean Pines Association Board of Directors and interim general manager Brett Hill was sentenced to 18 months in prison last week after a federal jury convicted him on 16 counts of failing to collect and pay employment taxes.

In addition to ordering his imprisonment, U.S. District Court Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher directed Hill to pay approximately $658,485 in restitution to the federal government and to serve three years of supervised probation after his release, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Brett Hill

Hill was indicted on federal charges in August 2022, and last April was found guilty by a federal jury of failing to collect and pay payroll taxes as the chief executive officer of two telecommunications companies.

According to the Department of Justice, Hill, of Parkton and Berlin, owned and operated two telecommunications companies where he was responsible for collecting and paying federal income, Social Security, and Medicare taxes from his employees’ wages, and filing tax returns.

Last spring, a jury found that from the second quarter of 2016 to the fourth quarter of 2018, Hill withheld taxes from his employees’ wages at one or both of his companies but did not file tax returns or pay those taxes over to the government.

“Hill did not pay … his companies’ share either,” reads an April 15, 2025, press release from the Justice Department. “Instead of paying the taxes he withheld from his employees’ paychecks, Hill paid himself a salary and paid other expenses.”

The Justice Department said Hill caused the United States a tax loss of over $2 million. Hill’s sentence was lower than the possible maximum penalty of five years for each count of failing to collect and pay over taxes.

“We appreciate that the Court’s sentence was substantially below the established sentencing guidelines,” said Gerald Ruter, Hill’s attorney, in an email statement to the Bayside Gazette last week. “… He will make every effort to make amends for his actions.”

Hill sat as a director on the Ocean Pines board from August 2016 to September 2017. During his tenure, the association leadership was in turmoil and the airing of bitter disputes among board members was common.

It was during this period that the board terminated the employment of general manager Bob Thompson and asked the newly elected board member Hill to take his place in an interim capacity.

Hill proceeded to institute major changes in operations that ultimately resulted in losses of $1.6 million over two years, according to a September 2022 article in Ocean City Today.

He resigned from the board and as general manager in September 2017.