The twice-convicted Port Graham man who attempted to fake his own death in order to avoid a lengthy sentence for Sexual Assault was sentenced in federal court on Thursday to 2.5 years in prison for the hoax, DoJ reported.

36-year-old Ryan Riley Meganack, of Port Graham, was sentenced to 2.5 years and was ordered to pay restitution to the United States Coast Guard in the amount of $384,261.50. Meganack will do 15 months of that time consecutively with his prior sentence of 15 years that he is currently serving in state prison on the Sexual Assault charges. Ten years of his 25-year sexual assault sentence was suspended.

Meganack hatched the plan to fake his own death in November of 2016 because he was aware that he was going to be taken into custody to serve his sentence upon submitting a guilty plea in court for Sexual Assault of an Incapacitated Woman. Meganack is a two-time sexual offender. His first case was a conviction for Sexual Abuse of a Minor.

Meganack, a life-long fisherman, recruited his girlfriend, Ivy Rose Rodriguez, to assist him in his attempt to avoid prison, and on November 29th, he took his 38-foot fishing vessel, the F/V “Aires” out of port and up Port Graham Bay with his seine skiff in tow.

Once up the bay near the small community, Meganack took his skiff and ran it onto the rocks and swamped it in an effort to make it appear that he had suffered a maritime accident and was lost at sea.

Following this, Meganack went back to the village and picked up Rodriguez, who was staying at his mother’s home, and the two went back up the bay and secured the fishing vessel in a slough there. Meganack and Rodriguez then walked back to his mother’s house, dropped off Rodriguez and went to a stocked campsite 400 feet into the woods that he had set up during his plot.

The next morning, November 30th, Rodriguez as per Meganack’s instruction, told his mother that he had left in his skiff, which she said was not running properly after they had gotten into an argument. She also told the mother that Meganack was drunk when he left.

Meganack’s mother informed the community’s tribal leader, who in turn notified the Coast Guard. A helicopter was launched out of Kodiak while searchers from the community initiated a search in the waters in the bay. Early in the evening, searchers from Port Graham and Nanwalek located Meganack’s skiff where he had staged it on the island. When found, the skiff’s outboard was down, the ignition key was on with the throttle full forward. Inside the skiff, a single rubber boot and an empty liquor bottle were found.

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The search for Meganack continued in deteriorating weather conditions throughout the day on December 1st, with AST and the Alaska State Parks, ground searchers and the Coast Guard searching with helicopter and cutter. 

That night, seeing how distraught the family was over Meganack’s disappearance and apparent death, Rodriguez came clean and told Meganack’s mother that the whole thing was a hoax and that Meganack was in hiding nearby.

The tribal leader was notified by Meganack’s mother and in turn, notified the Alaska State Troopers of the revelation. Troopers responded to the community on December 2nd and interviewed Rodriguez. She told authorities that Meganack had planned to flee the state once the search was suspended and was in hiding at his make-shift camp near the house. She also reported to troopers that Meganack was armed with a semi-automatic rifle.

A short time later, Meganack was located at the camp, armed with a Norinco 7.62 caliber semiautomatic rifle. He was taken into custody and transported to the Homer Jail.

Meganack was convicted in the Sexual Assault case in June 2017.