Feds Charge Pilot Who Faked Death

Ind. Investment Manager Charged With Intentionally Crashing Plane, Faking Distress Call

(CBS/AP)  An Indiana investment manager who allegedly staged a plane crash to evade personal and financial ruin was charged Wednesday with intentionally downing the plane and faking a distress call, a spokesman for the U.S. Marshals said.

The charges came a day after investigators tracked Marcus Schrenker, 38, to a campground in north Florida. He had apparently tried to kill himself by slitting his wrists and muttered the word "die" when federal agents discovered him bleeding from a slashed wrist, investigators said.

They caught him, CBS News learned, after tracing an email he sent to a friend.

Scott Wilson, a spokesman for the U.S. Marshals in the Northern District of Florida, said it isn't immediately known when Schrenker will appear on the charges because he is recovering from his wounds in a hospital.

The saga started Sunday night, when military jets intercepted the plane after authorities received a distress call that claimed Schrenker's windshield had blown in. The plane later crashed in a north Florida bayou after traveling 200 miles on autopilot, authorities said.

Schrenker's body was nowhere to be found in the wreckage, and authorities suspect he parachuted out of the plane in Alabama.

Schrenker later emerged from the woods 200 miles away soaking wet - telling local police he'd been in a canoeing accident, CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian.

After checking into a Florida hotel, Schrenker slipped away - reappearing at a storage shed before roaring off in a motorcycle he'd stashed days before as part of his great escape, reports Keteyian.

By Monday, the motorcycle was gone and an owner at the unit said his clothes were left behind.

"The best way to describe it right now he's our own little Bernie Madoff," said Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita.

Schrenker, who already faces mounting debt, complaints that he unfairly cheated investors out of savings and a crumbling marriage, is looking at more trouble ahead. Authorities have said they may try to make him pay for the cost of the search and he also faces charges in Indiana that he acted as a financial manager with an expired license.

"We were happy to know that he is alive and safe ... but now we're going to make sure he's being held properly accountable for his actions," said Jeffrey Wehmueller, administrative chief deputy for Indiana's Hamilton County.

Evidence, including the motorcycle authorities believe Schrenker used to get away, was being analyzed Wednesday morning, Chiumento said. He wouldn't describe what else was found at the Chattahoochee campground, but did say the investigation revealed Schrenker was prepared to be on the run for some time.

Schrenker fled not only the law but divorce, a state investigation of his businesses and angry investors who accuse him of stealing potentially millions in savings they entrusted to him.

"We've learned over time that he's a pathological liar - you don't believe a single word that comes out of his mouth," Charles Kinney, a 49-year-old airline pilot from Atlanta told CBS' The Early Show. Kinney alleges Schrenker pocketed at least $135,000 of his parents' retirement fund.

On Sunday - two days after burying his stepfather and suffering a half-million-dollar loss in federal court the same day - Schrenker was flying his single-engine Piper Malibu to Florida from his Indiana home when he reported the windshield had imploded over central Alabama.

Then his radio went silent.

Military jets tried to intercept the plane and found the door open, the cockpit dark. The aircraft crashed more than 200 miles farther south in a Florida Panhandle bayou surrounded by homes.

Police believe Schrenker parachuted to the ground in central Alabama, where he'd stashed a motorcycle with full saddlebags in a storage unit in Harpersville rented just the day before his flight.

(After his empty plane crashed, Marcus Schrenker was recorded on the surveillance camera of the Harpersville Motel in Harpersville, Ala.)

It appeared, by all accounts, that Schrenker was doing quite well.

At 38, he controlled an impressive slate of businesses. Through his Heritage Wealth Management Inc., Heritage Insurance Services Inc. and Icon Wealth Management, he was responsible for providing financial advice and managing portfolios worth millions.

He collected luxury automobiles, owned two airplanes and lived in a 10,000-square-foot house in an upscale neighborhood known as "Cocktail Cove," where affluent boaters often socialize with cocktails in hand.

But officials now say Schrenker's enterprise was ready to topple.

Authorities in Indiana have been investigating Schrenker's businesses on allegations that he sold clients annuities and charged them exorbitant fees they weren't aware they would face.

State Insurance Commissioner Jim Atterholt said Schrenker would close the investors out of one annuity and move them to another while charging them especially high "surrender charges" - in one case costing a retired couple $135,000 of their original $900,000 investment.

In recent weeks, Schrenker's life began to spin out of control. According to documents in a lawsuit filed in Indianapolis, Schrenker sent a frantic e-mail to plaintiffs on Dec. 16.

"I walked out on my job about 30 minutes ago," it read. "My career is over ... over one letter in a trade error. One letter!! ... I've had so many people yelling at me today that I couldn't figure out what was up or down. I still can't figure it out."

It's unclear to what "error" he is referring. In another e-mail to a neighbor following his disappearance, Schrenker referred to having "just made a 2 million dollar mistake." But it appeared he was hoping to work things out.

But things were now out of his hands.

On Dec. 31, officers searched Schrenker's home, seizing his family's passports, $6,036 in cash, the title to a Lexus and deposit slips for bank accounts in Michelle Schrenker's name. They also took six computers and nine large plastic tubs filled with various financial and corporate documents.

By the time authorities arrived at Schrenker's $4 million home, reports Keteyian, he'd long since disappeared - leaving behind a trail of broken trust and distraught clients.

"You haven't been bilked until you've been bilked by Marcus Schrenker," said one victim, Bob Sellers.

In the supporting affidavit, investigators suggested Schrenker might have access to at least $665,000 in the offshore accounts of a client.

But it wasn't just his finances that were in turmoil.

Just a day before, Michelle Schrenker had filed for divorce. She told the people searching the house that her husband had been having an affair.

Hours after Schrenker vanished, neighbor Tom Britt received what he believes is an e-mail from Schrenker. The tone was ominous.

"I embarrassed my family for the last time," Britt quoted Schrenker as saying. "By the time you read this I'll be gone."

[unlresources]

This guy wanted to be among the first to qualify for the 2009 Darwin Award. Just plain stupid, luckily he idiot didn''t kill someone on the ground when he ditched the plane. All of this scheming and it was about the money. Another Madoff but on a smaller scale. Isn''t it sickening to start hearing of all these scam artists being found out here recently?

[otiswestfall]

That poor wife of his will have an awful time getting any child support payments while he is at the Big House. If she plays her cards right, maybe she can have another husband lined up in a few weeks.

[barbaraf4]

Whether it is on a grand scale like Madoff or on a more modest scale like Schrenker, it is all about one thing: saving their own behinds and nevermind any responsibility to their investors and those they ruined.

[mytoosense]

We are seeing the modern version of the wealthy crashing and burning like they did in the Depression.

The only reason we are not hearing about corporate leaders jumping out high rise windows is because the windows on modern sky scrapers don''t open anymore.

[smurfcrusher]

Good solid Republican.

[cbs_bull]

Hope this little Madoff won''t get treated similar to the real Madoff... What''s wrong with the America today?

------------------ (Don''t know why. The ABC News has blocked my ids from posting comments on its site. They also deleted some of my comments. And they refuse to tell me why. I read the CBS news more often now. Guess the freedom of speech is no longer in ABC News'' vocabulary.)

[b4ucmyi]

"Feds Charge Pilot Who Faked Death"

Oh sure, and the auto-pilot walks away scot-free?

[tonic12345]

why call authorities to tell them the plane was going down... he could have had more time to get away.

[airboatboy1]

I''d have to say this guy has had a helluva time the last few days!!! He''s gonna have to come up with somethin'' real good to get that much adrenaline flowin'' again!

[nolalou]

What I don''t understand is if he wanted to die, why didn''t he just go down with the plane?

[groliesgirl]

Another amazing story about greed.

[pat1967-2009]

He should have made sure that there was enough gas to get the plane to crash into the Gulf of Mexico. He should have broken the wind shield out as well.

dumbazz!

[notfooled]

I''m geussing he thought the plane would make it to the ocean before it crashed, and of course then sink, so it would be difficult to find and less obvious that there was no body to be found.

Since he let the airplane go on autopilot apparently, he should be in for a heck of alot of charges. Just think if the plane had crashed into a school or someone''s home.

Clearly this guy didn''t care if he took others down in his escape attempt.

Hopefully he won''t see the light of day again.

[drivelphobe]

Too bad about the plane.

[brannigon]

You mean this clown wanted to die? Why didn''t somebody help him out?

[dnamj]

It''s also a big story because he''s good looking. That helps keep people interested.

[nobdysfool]

This is what happens when materialistic, greedy people hit a rock bottom spiritually.

[ikizdim]

WHY ??? Is this such a big story ???

Because it''s funny. This guy will be played by Will Ferrell in the movie. He''ll play the guy that can''t do anything right. Everything he tries to do doesn''t work out. To me, it''s just a great entertaining story of another tool who got caught.

[volleymom3]

Drama queen

[sly_64]

But if you had been following the story the last couple of days you''''d know that.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by IndepTex

I didn''t care enough to notice.