It looked like a tragedy at sea: A rented boat was found March 31 miles offshore with its engine still running and the captain nowhere to be found. But days after the U.S. Coast Guard finished its nearly $400,000 expedition to find the missing captain, authorities learned it was all a hoax.
The boater for whom they were desperately searching, Richard Ohrn, 44, of West Boca, hadn't fallen off his boat, and he wasn't in distress. He instead faked his disappearance, driving up to Georgia where he lived for a few days in a rented home, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.