Marcus Schrenker, 38, of McCordsville, Indiana, who bailed out of his airplane in January and parachuted to safety in an alleged attempt to fake his death, was sentenced to 51 months in prison on Wednesday, CNN reported. Schrenker also must pay more than $34,000 to the U.S. Coast Guard, which mounted a search and rescue effort, and another $871,000 to the lien holder on his Piper PA46-500TP Malibu Meridian. That cost may be offset by insurance, however, the prosecutors said. Schrenker pleaded guilty to intentionally crashing an airplane and sending false distress calls related to his use of the aircraft in June. The charges could have sent him to jail for 20 years for crashing the airplane and six years for prompting the Coast Guard search.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/news/pilot-who-bailed-out-sentenced-to-over-four-years-in-prison