A man who turned up in Australia after he disappeared from a Utah campground has been charged with insurance fraud.
Bryan Butas is now in a Veterans Administration hospital in Ohio.
The Salt Lake City Tribune reports that authorities in Utah also want Butas to pay the $13,000 spent looking for him after his car was found.
Investigators that Butas, a resident of St. George, Utah, took out a $250,000 life insurance policy naming his wife and children as beneficiaries, bought a one-way ticket to Australia and told friend he was going hiking, leaving his car 20 miles from his home. He allegedly used a bicycle get away and then took a bus to Los Angeles, where he boarded a plane.
Butas was tracked to Australia by credit card transactions. His mother in Ohio sent him money to fly back to the United States.
Butas and his wife had reporrtedly been having marital problems, and she had returned to Ohio. The day after his arrival, she applied for an order of protection, saying he had been abusive.
© Copyright 2005 by United Press International
