US money manager pleads guilty in plane crash hoax

MIAMI, June 5 (Reuters) - A U.S. money manager pleaded guilty on Friday to federal charges stemming from a plot to fake his own death in a small plane crash in Florida in an attempt to avoid financial fraud charges in Indiana.

Marcus Schrenker, 38, parachuted out of his plane over Alabama in January and let it continue to fly on autopilot before it eventually crashed in Florida. He was arrested a day later at a Florida campsite and taken to a hospital with wounds to his wrists that apparently resulted from a suicide attempt.

Schrenker at the time was wanted in Indiana on fraud charges alleging that he misled people who invested money with his financial management companies and misappropriated hundreds of thousands of dollars.

In U.S. District Court in Pensacola, Florida, Schrenker pleaded guilty to two charges, deliberately crashing a plane and placing false distress calls. His trial had been scheduled to start on Monday. His sentencing was set for Aug. 19.

Authorities say Schrenker radioed a distress call from his single-engine Piper aircraft, reporting that the plane's cracked windshield had imploded and that he was bleeding.

Two rescue helicopters and two military F-15 fighter jets were dispatched. When the jets caught up with the plane as it continued to fly with no one aboard, the windshield was intact, the door was open and there was no sign of the pilot, investigators said.

The Piper crashed in a swampy, wooded area north of Milton, Florida.

When rescuers reached the scene, they found evidence including a book of campsites in America missing its pages on Alabama and Florida, and a list scribbled on the back of a book stating, "cracked windshield, window imploded, bleeding profusely," a court affidavit said.

No one was hurt and no buildings were damaged in the crash, investigators said.