Florida man who faked disappearance ordered to pay for $1M Coast Guard search

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A 46-year-old Florida man who set a rented a boat adrift after dousing it with blood will now have to pay for the U.S. Coast Guard’s ensuing three-day, $1 million search.

A federal judge ordered Richard Ohrn to repay the government for the search this week in monthly installments of at least $400.

At the lowest level, it will take him more than 200 years to pay the ordered restitution.

According to court documents, on March 31, 2015, Ohrn, of West Palm Beach, rented a boat and abandoned it at sea, but not before making it look like a crime scene, complete with blood and a broken pair of glasses.

A concerned boater who spotted the abandoned vessel adrift off Lake Worth Inlet contacted the Coast Guard, which set off a massive search by sea and air that lasted for three days, officials said.

As Coast Guard crews searched for Ohrn, he fled to Georgia in his pickup truck and hid in an unfurnished apartment before returning to Florida nearly two weeks later, investigators said.

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Once located by authorities, Ohrn admitted he’d planned the disappearance and had towed an inflatable raft behind the rented boat, which he used to get back to shore.

He concocted the scheme because he wanted to “just go away,” due to his anxiety, court documents say.

Ohrn was also sentenced to one year of probation on a charge of communicating a false distress message.

Cox Media Group