Schrenker Pleads Guilty

Marcus Schrenker, the pilot accused of trying to fake his own death to avoid a fraud charges, pleaded guilty in federal court.

In January, Schrenker pleaded not guilty to charges that he made false distress calls before putting his small plane on autopilot and bailing out near Birmingham. The plane crashed just a few hundred feet from a neighborhood in Milton, Florida.

Schrenker, who was found with a slit wrist two days later at a KOA campground near Tallahassee, was scheduled to stand trial June 8th.

Schrenker was a money manager in Indiana. He's accused of bilking investors and then trying to fake his own death to avoid going to jail.

Sentencing is scheduled for August 19. He faces up to 26 years in prison and $500,000 in fines.

News 5 first reported this story as BREAKING NEWS on wkrg.com.
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