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Pilot Pleads Guilty in Plane Crash Ruse
Money manager Marcus Schrenker says he faked crash call, cites mental illness.
June 5, 2009 — -- Marcus Schrenker, an Indiana money manager accused of crashing his plane to fake his own death, has pleaded guilty to charges related to the crash today in federal court.
Schrenker is charged with destruction of an aircraft and causing the coast guard to respond when no help is needed, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.
He is not expected to be sentenced for several weeks and then will face other charges in Indiana.
Despite his guilty plea, Schrenker has maintained that he did not know what he was doing when he crashed his plane Jan. 11.
In an interview with ABC News, Schrenker said, "There was clearly something going on with me mentally starting in 2007. Five days before the accident, my wife, psychiatrist and friends, they wanted me hospitalized. But I refused. I wasn't of sound mind."
Schrenker and his wife had lived with their three children in a 10,000-square-foot house on a lake in Indiana, he said. They lived a luxurious lifestyle that included boats and private jets.
But life began to unravel over the past two years, Schrenker added.
In January 2008, the Indiana Department of Insurance filed charges against Schrenker on behalf of customers who claimed he had inappropriately invested their money.
Joe Mazzone, a retired airplane captain for Delta Airlines, told ABC News that Schrenker would "take advantage of trusting, hard-working people." Mazzone and other retired pilots trusted Schrenker with their retirement and claimed that he invested their money in long-term insurance policies without their knowledge. Mazzone also claimed that Schrenker forged documents to transfer his annuities, charging him huge penalties.
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