FLORENCE, S.C. -- The woman who faked her own death in Myrtle Beach to avoid facing fraud charges in Mecklenburg County was sentenced in a U.S. District Court on Wednesday.
Amy "Robinson" Arrington, 44, of Lowell, entered a guilty plea several months ago on the charge of conspiracy to communicate a false distress message; the charge stems from July 2014, when Amy and her husband Paul conspired to fake Amy's death by drowning at Myrtle Beach in an effort to avoid Amy's court date in Mecklenburg County for identity theft, habitual felon, forgery, uttering a forged instrument and obtaining property by false pretense.
Evidence presented in court showed Amy went into the water, left the beach and headed for Florida, as planned, and her husband reported her missing. After days of searching, and nearly $50,000 in taxpayer funds used to search for Amy, authorities determined the drowning was faked. Amy eventually turned herself in to authorities in North Carolina, where she faced a judge and pled guilty in Mecklenburg County.
On the conspiracy to communicate a false distress message, a judge ordered Amy to serve 30 months in prison and pay restitution in the amount of $47,597.80.
Paul entered a guilty plea to the same charge. He has not yet been sentenced.
