N.C. man pleads guilty to lying about wife who ‘disappeared’ in North Myrtle Beach

A North Carolina man accused of communicating a false distress message by saying his wife was missing along the Grand Strand - a report that sparked a three-day search - as his wife fled to avoid criminal charges in their home state pleaded guilty Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Florence.

Paul David Arrington, 46, and Amy Lynette Arrington, 44, have each pleaded guilty to conspiracy to communicate a false distress message.

United States Attorney Bill Nettles said in a news release Wednesday that Amy Arrington had been sentenced to two and a half years in prison and was ordered to pay $47,597.80 in restitution. Her husband will be sentenced after his pre-sentence reports are prepared by the U.S. Probation Office.

Paul Arrington reported his wife missing in North Myrtle Beach on July 5, 2014, telling authorities he saw his wife on the beach and then could not find her after leaving and returning a few minutes later. The report of a possible drowning sparked a three-day manhunt with the Coast Guard and had rescuers combing the area and waters for any signs of Amy Arrington.

Evidence presented at the change of plea hearings established that Paul and Amy Arrington conspired to fake the disappearance in order for Amy Arrington to avoid having to face charges pending against her in Mecklenburg County, N.C., according to the release. On July 5, 2014, the couple drove from Gastonia, N.C., to North Myrtle Beach where Amy Arrington went into the water for a short period, then, as planned, left the beach and made her way to Florida while rescuers began to search.

Law enforcement agencies eventually detected the fraud and Amy turned herself in to authorities in North Carolina. The couple was charged by South Carolina authorities in connection with the missing person report.

Officials said last year that they spent at least $50,000 on the search. The U.S. Coast Guard spent about $42,465.05, including $30,970.10 to fly the Air Station Savannah from the facility in Charleston, according to North Myrtle Beach spokesman Pat Dowling.

North Myrtle Beach spent $8,192.88, which included a $190 hotel room for Paul Arrington on July 5 through the victims advocate program. The cost of 81 personnel involved in the search, including 59 lifeguards, is an estimated $4,102.57, Dowling said last year.

Back in North Carolina, Amy Arrington pleaded guilty to a number of charges including identity theft and being a habitual felon and was sentenced to between nine and 11 years and 10 months in prison.

Although Paul Arrington has yet to be sentenced, Nettles stated in the release the maximum penalty for conspiracy to communicate a false distress message is imprisonment for five years and/or a fine of $250,000.

The case was investigated by agents of the Coast Guard Investigative Service, the North Myrtle Beach Department of Public Safety, the Department of Natural Resources, and Horry County Fire/Rescue, according to the release. Assistant United States Attorney A. Bradley Parham of the Florence office is prosecuting the case.

This story was originally published October 21, 2015 at 6:31 PM with the headline "N.C. man pleads guilty to lying about wife who ‘disappeared’ in North Myrtle Beach."