A Naval Academy graduate was charged with a hate crime Saturday after a tattoo shop in Annapolis reported its LGBTQ Pride flag had been ripped off its post and thrown in the trash, according to the city's police department.
A summons has been issued for Benjamin Michael to appear in court, court records show, but as of Monday morning, it has not been served.
In charging documents, police wrote that Michael, 44, is a Dallas resident who served in the U.S. Marine Corps and graduated from the academy.
Attempts to contact Michael on a phone number listed in public records were unsuccessful.
According to charging documents, an Annapolis Police corporal was contacted Friday morning by Charlie Garrett, co-owner of the Dapper Dog Tattoo Shop, who said a rainbow Pride flag outside the store had been vandalized.
Garrett told authorities this was the third time someone had removed the flag, which has the words "ABIDE NO HATRED" on it, from its post. In response, Garrett said he installed a security camera to monitor the area.
Closed-circuit video footage showed a man in a black puffer-style vest walking toward the store at approximately 1 a.m. Friday, police said, before he "forcefully ripped" the flag from above the shop's awning. According to charging documents, the man was then seen "placing" it into a red trash can nearby.
The tattoo shop posted a photo of the man from its security camera on social media and asked the "Dapper Dog Family" for help identifying the suspect. In return, the store offered anyone with information a free tattoo from an artist of their choosing.
According to charging documents, a woman who worked at a nearby restaurant contacted authorities Saturday morning and told the corporal she had served the man in the video the night before. She told police Michael was in the area for "an event related to the Naval Academy football game" against the Tulane Green Wave.
Navy lost 35-0.
After providing police with Michael's name and credit card receipt, the woman said she had "immediately" recognized him from the Dapper Dan post, police said.
In an interview Monday, Garrett said the support Dapper Dog has received since Friday has been "amazing," adding he was happy his camera helped investigators charge a suspect.
However, the local businessman said he was still "dumbfounded" by the vandalism he's witnessed at his store on Maryland Avenue.
"I don't know if the people who are doing it are just so fragile that they can't let it be, that the sight of it is triggering in some way," Garrett said. "But it's important for me for it to be out there so people know there is a safe place."
A spokesperson for the Naval Academy said Michael was a member of the Class of 2004. According to a Marine Corps spokesperson, Michael served from 2004 to 2013, ending his career as a captain at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.
Michael was also charged with malicious destruction of property in the Annapolis incident. Both it and the hate crime charge, which in this case relates to property crimes, are misdemeanors.
A court date has not yet been set, according to the Maryland Judiciary.
Friday's incident comes at a time when hate crimes against people over their sexuality is on the rise, nationally and locally.
According to the FBI, total hate crime incidents have spiked by more than 30% across the United States since 2018. But when comparing 2023 figures to the five-year average preceding them, the number of crimes related to sexuality has jumped nearly 70%.
Of the 11,447 total incidents last year, sexual orientation was targeted in 2,106, according to FBI statistics.
Hate bias incidents occur in much smaller numbers in Anne Arundel County. Data compiled since 2019 by the police department details the number and kinds of victims attacked each year.
According to the county's hate bias incident dashboard, the most common hate crimes reported in Anne Arundel involve race and overwhelmingly target Black citizens.
The county has averaged six hate crimes involving sexuality annually since 2019, police data shows, though nine took place last year.
Garrett said Monday his store was able to recover the Pride flag from the trash, though its pole was "destroyed." A replacement has been ordered and he expects a rainbow banner to fly outside the shop again by the end of the week.
"If it doesn't belong to you, don't touch it," Garrett said. "If you don't agree with it, so be it ... you don't have the right to mess with other's free speech."
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