Last summer, Raymond Roth of Long Island pretended to drown on Jones Beach, but turned up several days later when he got a speeding ticket in South Carolina. Prosecutors say Roth faked his death as part of a conspiracy with his 22-year-old son to collect $400,000 in life insurance. County police and the Coast Guard searched for Roth for several days, and on Thursday he agreed to pay authorities about $37,000 for their trouble as part of a plea deal that includes a 90-day jail sentence. Roth’s lawyer, Brian Davis, noted that his client had been in treatment for mental health issues prior to the incident. “You know, I’m not asking everyone to cry for him but there is some sympathy there,” said Davis, adding, “Part of the way he was viewing the world at the time was to make that escape that everybody envisions for themselves every once in awhile.”
