NOBLESVILLE, Ind. — A former money manager facing fraud charges acknowledged that the evidence indicates he was trying to fake his own death when he parachuted from his private plane that later crashed in a Florida swamp.
Marcus Schrenker told The Times of Munster in a jailhouse interview for a Sunday story that "all the data leads to (that) conclusion." He didn't specify what "data" he meant.
Schrenker, who previously claimed he had suffered memory loss due to an injury in the crash, said he remembered the incident clearly now.
"It's hard for me to believe that I did something so dangerous. Somebody could have been killed other than me," he said. "I was running from something. It looks very obvious that I was trying to leave the world for a short time."
The Merrillville native is being held in jail in the Indianapolis suburb of Hamilton County, where he awaits trial on 11 felony charges alleging that he bilked friends, family members and other investors of more than $1 million. A judge has entered not guilty pleas on his behalf. A court hearing is scheduled for later this month to determine his trial date.
He was sentenced in August to four years in federal prison on charges stemming from the Florida crash. He also is named in more than a half-dozen lawsuits and has judgments against him totaling millions of dollars.
Schrenker was arrested at a Florida campground in January 2009, two days after officials say he put his plane on autopilot and bailed out over Alabama to flee personal and financial problems. The plane crashed about 200 miles away. He started his flight in Anderson, where he stored his plane in a Municipal Airport hangar.
He has claimed he was under psychiatric care and on medication for more than a year beforehand. He said he had been mentally incompetent due to stress and a prescription drug problem.
"I was a very pompous, arrogant, self-centered man," Schrenker said. "This is not the legacy I want to leave for my family."
He told The Times that his investors' losses were due to an overwhelmed office and the Wall Street collapse. "If anything, we're guilty of bad record keeping," he said.
He said he had acknowledged responsibility to his former clients and told them he would try to help them recoup their losses.
Jeff Wehmueller, administrative chief deputy prosecutor in Hamilton County, said Schrenker hadn't admitted guilt in the letter to his clients, but accepted moral responsibility for their losses.
"I am just really embarrassed and really sorry for what the clients are going through," Schrenker said. "I'm very concerned. It seems like no one's concerned about the clients."
Wehmueller said the investors were "all we care about."
"That's why the secretary of state's office had established a receivership in the first place," he said. Indiana authorities had the assets of Schrenker and his estranged wife, Michelle, placed in a court-controlled receivership.
Michelle Schrenker, who filed for divorce in 2008, said, "Me and my kids are just trying to move on."
___
Breaking News
Schrenker: Data suggests he tried to fake death
- Breaking News
-
-
Stocks fall at the open as Greek deal is held up
U.S. stocks opened lower Friday after Greece's bailout deal was put on hold, a day after it seemed that the country had satisfied its creditors.
-
AP sources: Obama revamping birth control policy
Retreating in the face of a political uproar, President Barack Obama on Friday will announce that religious employers will not have to cover birth control for their employees after all, The Associated Press has learned. The administration instead will demand that insurance companies will be the ones directly responsible for providing free contraception.
-
Advocates want no weakening of Indiana smoking ban
Anti-smoking advocates aren't happy about an 18-month exemption for bars that's included in a bill for a statewide smoking ban, and said Thursday they are aiming to prevent the proposal from being watered down any more as it moves through the Indiana Legislature.
-
Notre Dame tuition to increase by 3.8 percent
The University of Notre Dame is raising tuition 3.8 percent for undergraduates for 2012-13.
-
No. 23 Hoosiers hurry past Illinois 84-71
Illinois played like a desperate team Thursday night. That didn’t matter to Indiana. Cody Zeller scored 22 points and Victor Oladipo and Christian Watford each had 18, igniting No. 23 Indiana’s late charge to get past the Fighting Illini 84-71.
-
Wind turbine maker bringing jobs to southern Indiana
A manufacturer of small, "micro-wind" turbines has moved into a warehouse that had been unoccupied since one of southern Indiana's largest employers moved out more than a decade ago.
-
Family plucked from Pacific after boat capsizes
Three family members attempting their first voyage across the Pacific in a sailboat were left adrift in rough seas hundreds of miles from land when their mast broke in high winds.
-
Police report human remains in Grant County
Human remains were uncovered by police Thursday morning in Grant County.
-
FBI file: Steve Jobs was considered for government post
FBI background interviews of some people who knew Apple founder Steve Jobs reveal a man so driven by power that he sometimes lost sight of honesty.
-
Florida mogul, facing trial, adopts his girlfriend
The story already had people's attention: A multimillionaire polo magnate was accused of causing a drunken-driving wreck that killed a young man. But now, with his criminal trial approaching, a strange twist has raised even more eyebrows: He has adopted his 42-year-old girlfriend.
- More Breaking News Headlines
-
Stocks fall at the open as Greek deal is held up
Denver's Largest-Ever Drug Bust Nets Dozens
Marines: No Punishment for Nazi-like Flag
Vets Look to Translate Military Skills Into Jobs
Expert: Removing LA School's Staff 'Appropriate'
Raw Video: School Bus Burst Into Flames
LA School Reopens Amid Sex Abuse Scandal
$25B Settlement Reached Over Foreclosure Abuses
Pentagon: Allow Women Closer to Front Lines
Obama Gives Education Waivers to 10 States
Giffords Aide to Run for Her Seat
LA School in Sex Abuse Scandal Reopens
Winter Slamming North Asia, Parts of Europe
Syrian Forces Renew Bombardment of Homs
States, Banks Reach Foreclosure-abuse Settlement
Raw Video: Italy's Mount Etna Bursts Into Life
Greeks March; Angry Despite Debt Deal
Raw Video: U.S. Pullout Celebration
Raw Video: Annual Empire State Building Run-Up
Man Killed in Courthouse Shootout
Air Force Airlines: Leaders Get Polished Service
