OC Man Sentenced to 18 Months in Connection with Fatally Dragging Wife on Jet Ski

OCEAN CITY, Md. – The Office of the State’s Attorney for Worcester County has secured a sentence in connection with a fatal jet ski accident from Jun. 2024.

On Monday, Apr. 27, 74-year-old Charles Richter of Ocean City, was sentenced to serve 18 months in the Worcester County Detention Center for his conviction of causing life-threatening injury
while operating a vessel impaired by alcohol. Judge Beau H. Oglesby of the Worcester County Circuit Court imposed the sentence.

The charges stem from a distress call received on Jun. 22, 2024, regarding a possible drowning. Agencies including the Ocean City Fire Department, Emergency Medical Services, and officers of the Natural Resources Police responded to the area near the Isle of Wight Bay and the Route 90 bridge in Ocean City. Upon arrival, they observed witnesses administering aid to a woman who appeared to be lying unconscious on the shore. She was transported to TidalHealth, where she remained in the intensive care unit for several days before eventually succumbing to her injuries on Jun. 30, 2024.

Police identified the woman’s husband as Richter, who they located on scene showing signs of alcohol impairment. Richter told officers that he and his wife had been returning home on his jet ski after visiting a local bar when he hit a wave, causing his wife to fall off the vessel and into the bay. Richter was unable to get his wife back on the jet ski, and instead dragged her through choppy waters and large swells toward the shore by her life vest, causing her to inhale water. Witnesses on a nearby vessel reportedly overheard the victim saying that she could not breathe. The woman proceeded to slip out of her life vest and become fully submerged under water.

At that time, the witnesses responded to Richter’s jet ski, located the victim, and brought her to shore where life-saving measures were performed. Further police investigation revealed that Richter had consumed multiple alcoholic beverages prior to operating the jet ski. He failed Standardized Field Sobriety Tests before ultimately submitting to a breath test, which showed he still had a blood alcohol content of .07 several hours after operating the jet ski.