Financial Adviser Who Allegedly Faked Plane Crash Arrested In Florida

Quincy, FL (AHN) - Marcus Schrenker, the financial adviser under investigation for securities fraud who disappeared after allegedly faking an emergency and parachuting out of his private plane, was arrested in Florida late Tuesday.

The 38-year-old was arrested by U.S. Marshals officers at a campsite in Quincy, near Tallahassee, according to reports. He was treated at a hospital after being taken into custody. U.S. Marshals spokesman Michael Richards told the Indianapolis Star Shrenker "had cut one of his wrists" in an apparent suicide attempt.

The U.S. Marshals Service had assumed the lead role in the search by authorities from Alabama, Florida and Indiana for Schrenker. State warrants were issued on Tuesday in Indiana charging him with securities fraud.

Schrenker, who owns three Indiana companies, made a distress call late Sunday while on his Piper PA-46 single engine airplane bound for Destin, FL.He had taken off hours earlier from Anderson, IN, and had reportedly told to air traffic controllers that his windshield had shattered and that he was bleeding profusely.

When police reached the crash site near Milton, FL, however no blood was found. Police believe he intentionally put the plane on autopilot and parachuted out while flying over Alabama. "Military jets that were launched to intercept the plane observed the plane's door open and the cockpit dark. The military jets stayed with the plane until it crashed one mile north of Peter Prince Airport in East Milton," a statement from the U.S. Marshals office said.

After parachuting from his plane, Schrenker, whose wife filed for divorce on Dec. 30, spoke to a Childersburg, AL resident and said he had been in a canoeing accident. A Childersburg police officer, who identified him as Shrenker using his pilot's license, later brought him to a motel where Schrenker checked in using a fake name.

Schrenker's three Indiana companies are currently being investigate for securities violations. A judge issued an order on Monday freezing his assets following a request from Indiana investigators. A Maryland federal court had also recently ruled against one of his companies, Heritage Wealth Management Inc., and ordered him to pay $533,000 for not returning "unearned"commissions to a life insurance company.