Fugitive Pilot Cut Wrist as Feds Closed In
By JESSICA GRESKO and JAY REEVES
AP
Jan. 14, 2009
An investment manager believed to have staged a plane crash in a bid to fake
his own death was taken into custody Tuesday night at a campground in
Florida. U.S. Marshals found Marcus Schrenker "bleeding profusely" from a
slashed wrist. Schrenker, seen in an unrelated flight in the Bahamas, has been
under investigation for alleged financial violations.
U.S. Marshals apprehended Marcus Schrenker, 38, late Tuesday at a northern
Florida campground two days after the amateur daredevil pilot apparently tried
to fake his own death in a plane crash. Authorities believe he parachuted to the
ground and later sped off on a motorcycle he had stashed in central Alabama...
Chiumento said Schrenker was found based on information from U.S. Marshals
officers in Indiana and in Alabama. He did not provide details of how Schrenker
was tracked to Florida, but told ABC it was not based on tips from the
campsite...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," said Charles
Kinney, a 49-year-old airline pilot from Atlanta who alleges Schrenker
scammed up to $135,000 from 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..
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...
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."
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